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Mathews v. Foster, Sheriff

Supreme Court of Georgia1953-04-14No. No. 18142
209 Ga. 699

Summary

Holding. The judgment refusing to discharge the petitioner on his habeas corpus petition was affirmed. A paroled convict who violates the terms of his parole may be extradited to the state where he was originally convicted as a fugitive from justice, and when an extradition warrant appears regular on its face, the petitioner bears the burden of overcoming the presumption that the Governor acted lawfully.

Horace H. Mathews petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to challenge his detention in Georgia as a fugitive from justice. He was being held under an executive warrant from the Georgia Governor based on an extradition request from Michigan, where Mathews had been convicted and paroled. Mathews had subsequently been imprisoned in federal custody in Atlanta and released on federal parole in early 1953. The court rejected his habeas corpus petition without examining whether he was guilty of any crime, as courts in the state of detention lack jurisdiction to inquire into guilt or innocence in extradition matters.

The court held that a paroled convict who violates parole terms becomes a fugitive from justice and may be extradited to the state where he was originally convicted, even if he committed no new crime in that state. When an executive warrant for extradition appears regular on its face, the burden shifts to the petitioner to demonstrate a valid reason against execution of the warrant. Mathews failed to meet this burden, and the presumption that the Governor complied with constitutional and legal requirements remained undisturbed.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether courts in an asylum state may inquire into guilt or innocence in extradition proceedings
  • Whether a paroled convict who violates parole may be extradited without committing a new crime in the originating state
  • Burden of proof regarding the validity of an executive extradition warrant

Procedural posture

The petitioner appealed a judgment of the trial court denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention under an executive extradition warrant.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Hawkins, Justice.

The exception is to a judgment refusing to discharge the applicant, Horace H. Mathews, on his petition for the writ of habeas corpus. At the time of his application he was duly held in custody, as a fugitive from justice, by A. B. Foster, Sheriff of Fulton County, under an executive warrant of the Governor of Georgia, dated January 12, 1953, based on an extradition proceeding by the Governor of Michigan. No attack is made on the extradition proceeding. It appears that in 1942 Mathews was convicted of a crime in Michigan, and sentenced to serve one and one-fourth to fourteen years, being later conditionally paroled to a dairy farm. On the death of his grandmother he was granted permission to leave Michigan and attend her funeral in New Jersey. Since then the petitioner has served forty-four months of a five-year sentence in the Federal Penitentiary, in Atlanta, Georgia, having been given a conditional release or parole on or about January 2, 1953. Held:

1. “The courts of the asylum State can not, upon a writ of habeas coipus, inquire into the guilt or innocence of the accused. No such jurisdiction is given- them by law; and it would be a manifestly unwise provision if authority to investigate such a question were conferred on a tribunal that had no power to compel the attendance of witnesses who resided in another State, and whose testimony would be necessary to throw light on the issue.” Barranger v. Baum, 103 Ga. 465, 473 (30 S. E. 524). See also Mayfield v. Hornsby, 199 Ga. 70 (33 S. E. 2d, 312).

No. 18142.

Submitted March 10, 1953

Decided April 14, 1953.

Bruce B. Edwards, Jesse T. Edwards, Joe B. Edwards and James H. Fox, for plaintiff in error.

Paul Webb, Solicitor-General, and Charlie O. Murphy, contra.

2. Irrespective of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act of 1951 (Ga. L. 1951, p. 726; Code, Ann. Supp., § 44-401 et seq.), the constitutional attack on which need not be considered, where, as in this case, a person who has been convicted of a felony or other crime in another State and released on parole by the authorities of that State with permission to go into another State, violates the terms of his parole by the commission of another felony, or a Federal offense amounting tó a felony, he becomes a fugitive from justice within the meaning of section 2 of article 4 of the Constitution of the United States (Code, § 1-403), and the act of Congress of- February 12, 1793 (1 Stat. 302; U. S. Comp. St. § 10126; R. S. § 5278;- 18 U. S. C. A. § 3182), and subject to extradition by the State where he was convicted and paroled, although he has committed no crime in that State subsequently to his parole. Beavers v. Lowry, 186 Ga. 557 (198 S. E. 692). See also Brown v. Lowry, 185 Ga. 539 (195 S. E. 759); Deering v. Mount, 194 Ga. 833 (22 S. E. 2d, 828); Broyles v. Mount, 197 Ga. 659 (30 S. E. 2d, 48); Taylor v. Foster, 205 Ga. 36 (52 S. E. 2d, 314); Code, § 44-302.

3. “A paroled convict who violates the terms of his parole may be extradited from one State to another, on the ground that he is a convict whose term has not expired, and who therefore is ‘charged with crime’ under the United States Constitution relating to interstate extradition.” Deering v. Mount, supra, p. 840.

4. “When, in the trial of a habeas corpus case, it appears that the respondent holds the petitioner in custody under an executive warrant based upon an extradition proceeding, and the warrant is regular on its face, the burden is cast upon the petitioner to show some valid and sufficient reason why the warrant should not be executed. The presumption is that the Governor has complied with the Constitution and the law, and this presumption continues until the contrary appears.” Blackwell v. Jennings, 128 Ga. 264 (2) (57 S. E. 484). “The evidence offered by the plaintiff in this case cannot be held, as a matter of law, to be sufficient to overcome this presumption.” Broyles v. Mount, supra, p. 661.

5. The plaintiff in error contends that errors were committed in the refusal to admit in evidence certain letters from Michigan authorities to the effect that previous efforts to extradite him had been withdrawn. We deem it unnecessary to pass upon this contention, since under the rulings here made the judgment must be affirmed. Taylor v. Foster, supra.

Judgment affirmed,.

All the - Justices concur, except Atkinson, P. J., not participating.