Source: https://openjurist.org/509/f2d/39
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:54:55+00:00

Document:
George Pai, Atty. Gen. of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, for respondent-appellant.
Paul N. Halvonik, of Friedman, Sloan & Halvonik, San Francisco, Cal., Burnham H. Greeley, Honolulu, Hawaii, for petitioner-appellee.
Before LUMBARD,* KOELSCH and DUNIWAY, Circuit Judges.
The primary question on this appeal is whether a person against whom a fine has been imposed by a state court is 'in custody' within the meaning of the federal habeas corpus statute, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241, 2254. The district court, concluding that he is, proceeded to the merits of petitioner Edmunds' claim and granted a writ, 365 F.Supp. 941 (D.Hawaii 1973).1 We disagree on the jurisdictional question and, accordingly, reverse.
We are fully aware that the Supreme Court in recent years has extended the scope of the Great Writ to persons whose circumstances fall outside conventional notions of physical custody. See, e.g., Hensley v. Municipal Court, 411 U.S. 345, 93 S.Ct. 1571, 36 L.Ed.2d 294 (1973); Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Kentucky, 410 U.S. 484, 93 S.Ct. 1123, 35 L.Ed.2d 443 (1973); Strait v. Laird, 406 U.S. 341, 92 S.Ct. 1693, 32 L.Ed.2d 141 (1972); Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U.S. 234, 88 S.Ct. 1556, 20 L.Ed.2d 554 (1968); Peyton v. Rowe, 391 U.S. 54, 88 S.Ct. 1549, 20 L.Ed.2d 426 (1968); Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236, 83 S.Ct. 373, 9 L.Ed.2d 285 (1963).
'The custody requirement of the habeas corpus statute is designed to preserve the writ of habeas corpus as a remedy for severe restraints on individual liberty. Since habeas corpus is an extraordinary remedy whose operation is to a large extent uninhibited by traditional rules of finality and federalism, its use has been limited to cases of special urgency, leaving more conventional remedies for cases in which the restraints on liberty are neither severe nor immediate.' 411 U.S. at 351, 93 S.Ct. at 1574.
Applying these principles to the case before us, we conclude that there is insufficient 'custody' present for the invocation of habeas corpus relief; the claimed restraints on Edmunds' liberty are neither severe nor immediate enough to justify the remedy.
Reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the petition.
'The question presented for our decision is a narrow one: namely, whether the conditions imposed on petitioner as the price of his release constitute 'custody' as that term is used in the habeas corpus statute.' 411 U.S. at 348, 93 S.Ct. at 1573 (emphasis added).
Cf. Huante v. Craven, 500 F.2d 1004 (9th Cir. 1974).
In Yakima, this court held 'that before the effective date of the Indian Civil Rights Bill, habeas corpus was available as a device to obtain review of decisions of the Yakima Tribal Court even where the one convicted was fined rather than given a prison sentence.' Settler v. Lameer, 419 F.2d 1311, 1312 (9th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 903, 90 S.Ct. 1690, 26 L.Ed.2d 61 (1970). We observed in Yakima that the petitioner had 'no other procedural recourse for effective judicial review of the constitutional issues he raises.' 419 F.2d at 490 (emphasis added). Moreover, the provision of Settler's sentence providing for his suspension from fishing activities in the event he failed to pay the fine provided a significant restraint on his liberty under all the circumstances of that case.
In Weiss, where the sentence on one of five counts of contempt was a fine only, we reviewed the propriety of all five convictions; but the issue of 'custody' was neither argued nor discussed in the opinion.

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