Case Name: The People ex rel. Benjamin D. Ritholz, Appellee, vs. Frank G. Sain, Sheriff of Cook County, Appellant
Court: Illinois Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1962-01-23
Citations: 24 Ill. 2d 168
Docket Number: No. 36756
Parties: The People ex rel. Benjamin D. Ritholz, Appellee, vs. Frank G. Sain, Sheriff of Cook County, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Reports, Second Series
Volume: 24
Pages: 168–178

Head Matter:
(No. 36756.
The People ex rel. Benjamin D. Ritholz, Appellee, vs. Frank G. Sain, Sheriff of Cook County, Appellant.
Opinion filed January 23, 1962.
Rehearing denied March 22, 1962.
Hershey, C.J., dissenting.
Daniel P. Ward, State’s Attorney, of Chicago, (John T. Gallagher, and James R. Thompson, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel,) for appellant.
■Marshall Korshak, of Chicago, (John J. Cogan, and Charles D. Snewind, of counsel,) for appellee.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Daily
delivered the opinion of the court:
The relator, Benjamin D. Ritholz, was arrested for purposes of extradition by respondent, Frank G. Sain, sheriff of Cook County, under authority of a rendition warrant issued by the Governor of Illinois on the requisition of the Governor of Michigan. A petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed by relator in the criminal court of Cook County to test the legality of his arrest and the writ issued, after which respondent filed a return alleging the Governor's warrant. By a supplemental petition relator challenged the sufficiency of the extradition papers and to such petition, respondent filed a return alleging that the papers were legal, that relator was a fugitive from justice, that he was charged with an offense against the laws of Michigan, and that he was the person named in the supporting papers. After a hearing, the relator was discharged and respondent has appealed directly to this court for review as authorized by section 10 of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1959, chap. 60, par. 27.) The issues presented are the sufficiency of the rendition warrant issued by the Governor of Illinois and of the requisition or demand presented by the Governor of Michigan.
Section 3 of our uniform act provides that "No demand for the extradition of a person charged with a crime in another state shall be recognized by the Governor unless in writing alleging, that the accused was present in the demanding state at the time of the commission of the alleged crime, and that thereafter he fled the state," and further specifies, in the alternative, that the demand be accompanied (1) by a copy of an indictment or information supported by an affidavit; (2) a copy of an affidavit made before a magistrate together with a copy of any warrant which issued thereupon, or (3) a copy of a judgment of conviction or of sentence imposed in execution thereof, together with a statement by the executive authority of the demanding state that the person claimed has escaped from confinement or has broken the terms of bail, probation or parole. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1959, chap. 60, par. 20.) As pointed out in People ex rel. Hackler v. Lohman, 17 Ill.2d 78, 87, these requirements are essentially the same as those found in the comparable Federal statute, (18 U.S.C.A., sec. 3182,) except for the third alternative which, we noted, "appears to have been added to meet the case of the escaped convict, a situation not necessarily encompassed where the showing' is to be made by indictment or affidavit."
The demand here, by its terms, was based upon the second alternative for it recited, under date of July 21, i960, that it appears by "complaint and warrant," that relator "stand [s] charged" under the laws of Michigan with the crime of offering and giving bribe to public officers with intent to influence their acts.
With regard to rendition warrants issued by the Governor of Illinois, section 7 of our act provides in part: "If the Governor decides that the demand should be complied with, he shall sign a warrant of arrest, The warrant must substantially recite the facts necessary to the validity of its issuance." (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1959, chap. 60, par. 24.) Adhering to the recital of the demand, the warrant here issued by the Governor of Illinois stated that "The Governor of Michigan demands of me the arrest and delivery of Benjamin D. Ritholz as a fugitive from justice, and has produced and laid before me a copy of a Complaint and Warrant certified as authentic by the said Governor and duly authenticated" etc. The warrant did not show on its face, however, that the complaint was based upon an affidavit before a magistrate, one of the jurisdictional requirements set forth in the second alternative fixed by section 3. And while, in the absence of matter curing the defect, the' failure of the rendition warrant to recite this jurisdictiotia! requirement on its face is fatal, (See: People ex rel. Rukavina, v. Sain, 22 Ill.2d 546,) we adhere to the view of the majority that legal deficiencies in the rendition warrant may be cured, in habeas corpus proceedings for the discharge of the fugitive, by including with the return of the sheriff or producing at the hearing the papers upon which the warrant was issued and which show that the warrant was justified. People ex rel. Hackler v. Lohman, 17 Ill.2d 78, 88-89; Lacondra v. Hermann, 343 Ill. 608, 613-614.
In the instant case supporting papers introduced in evidence by the respondent cured the defect on the face of the warrant by showing that the complaint was based upon an affidavit made before a magistrate, and thus foreclosed relator's attack upon the warrant on such ground. For the first time on appeal relator objects to the evidence introduced on the ground that no proper foundation was laid for its introduction. Not only does such objection come too late, but the supporting papers introduced into evidence were certified by a certificate of the Secretary of State. This was a proper certificate for their admission into evidence. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1959, chap. 51, par. 56.
While it is ordinarily true that a Governor's warrant which is regular on its face makes a prima facie case against the person named therein, (People ex rel. Borelli v. Sain, 16 Ill.2d 322, People ex rel. Mack v. Meyering, 355 Ill. 456,) it is likewise true that the Governor's warrant is not the entire proceeding but is merely a step in the process of extradition, the effect of which may be limited, impaired or even destroyed by the non-existence or impropriety of other necessary procedural matters. (People ex rel. Maypole v. Meyering, 358 Ill. 589; cf. Steadman v. State, 36 Ala. App. 253 1951, 54 So. 2d 633.) Here, moreover, relator has expressly brought the sufficiency of the requisition papers under attack, thus raising the question of whether, in the language of section 3, the Governor of Illinois was justified in "recognizing" the demand made upon him. In proceedings for extradition the same strictness and accuracy is not required as in proceedings under indictments. Nonetheless, the right of personal liberty the fugitive enjoys under the United States constitution gives him the right to require in an extradition proceeding that he be substantially and in good faith charged with an offense against the laws of the demanding State, that he be afforded an opportunity to show he is not in fact a fugitive from justice, and that the demand be made in due and proper form. (People ex rel. Leach v. Baldwin, 341 Ill. 604; 20 I.L.P., Fugitives from Justice, sec. 10.) In the latter regard, a relator in custody by virtue of a warrant issued upon an insufficient requisition may be discharged on habeas corpus. People ex rel. LaRue v. Meyering, 357 Ill. 166.
As previously pointed out, the demand presented by the Governor of Michigan, under date of July 21, i960, recited as its basis a "complaint and warrant" whereby the relator stood charged with the crime of bribing public officers. However, this recital is contradicted by the supporting papers introduced in evidence which show that relator was tried, convicted, sentenced and fined on August 6, 1956, of the crime of bribing public officers, that such conviction and sentence was appealed to and finally affirmed by the Supreme Court of Michigan on March 11, i960, that he was admitted to bail pending the outcome of his appeal, and that he became a fugitive from the justice of that State by his failure to surrender himself upon the affirmance of his conviction.
To overcome the contradiction between the recitals of the demand and the supporting papers, the respondent, citing People ex rel. Holmes v. Babb, 414 Ill. 490, and People ex rel. Westbrook v. O'Neil, 378 Ill. 324, asserts that although the relator may have been convicted, he still "stands charged" with the crime for purposes of extradition, so long as the judgment of conviction remains unsatisfied. While this is indeed the law, it is no cure for the contradiction be tween the recitals of the demand and the supporting papers. In the Holmes case, and we assume the same was true in the O'Neil case, there was no such contradiction because the facts, as recited in our opinion (414 Ill. at 492,) reflect that the demand of the Governor of New York itself certified that the accused was "convicted of such crime and sentenced, broke the terms of his parole, and fled from the justice of that State." Here, by way of contrast, the demand recited that relator stood charged of a crime by virtue of a complaint and warrant, whereas the supporting papers reflected that he stood charged of the crime by virtue of a judgment of conviction. Cf. LaSasso v. MacLeod, 136 N.J.L. 345 1948, 56 A.2d 430.
Nor do we believe that the contradiction is a mere technicality. As pointed out in People ex rel. Hackler v. Lohman, 17 Ill.2d 78, 87, the third alternative in section 3 of our Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, viz., that the demand be accompanied by a copy of a judgment of conviction or of a sentence imposed in execution thereof, together with a statement by the executive authority of the demanding State that the person claimed has escaped from confinement or has broken the terms of his bail, probation or parole, was added to meet situations not necessarily encompassed where the jurisdictional showing is made by indictment or affidavit before a magistrate. And we think the same distinction should appear in the demand. Otherwise, there would be no purpose in delineating separate jurisdictional bases, if the language of a demand that a relator stands charged by complaint and warrant is to be construed as encompassing every situation, which it obviously does not with clarity do. Here, for example, the recital of the demand that relator stood charged with a crime by complaint and warrant on July 21, i960, requires an implication from the supporting papers, not at all clear, that the crime referred to ivas the same crime for which the relator had been tried and convicted on August 6, 1956, Had the demand recited the judgment of conviction, as our statute contemplates in such cases, such recital, together with a statement by the executive authority that relator had broken the terms of his bail, would have obviated all need for implication and speculation and permitted the recognition of the demand to rest on certainty.
For the reasons stated it is our opinion that the requisition or demand was insufficient to justify the issuance of the rendition warrant, which is the only authority here shown for detaining the relator. Accordingly, the judgment of the criminal court of Cook County discharging the relator is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.