Criminal Procedure Commons^™

Vanderbilt: Cases And Materials On Modern Procedure And Judicial Administration, Charles W. Joiner

Michigan Law Review

A Review of CASES AND MATERIALS ON MODERN PROCEDURE AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION by Arthur T. Vanderbilt.

Constitutional Law-Right To Bail, Robert L. Sandblom S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution provides that "Excessive bail shall not be required . . . ." This clause, as with all of the Bill of Rights, serves as a limitation on the federal government. From a very early date this provision has likewise established a boundary on the discretion of the federal courts in their exercise of criminal jurisdiction. Although this Eighth Amendment provision is a protection against federal encroachment, it does not limit the powers of states, arguments of individual Justices to the contrary notwithstanding.

In the recent Supreme Court decision of Stack v. Boyle, this …

Evidence-Confessions-Mcnabb Rule Not Applicable Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, detained on a vagrancy charge in Texas, voluntarily confessed to a homicide committed in Nebraska. Upon his return to the latter state, the defendant repeated his confession and was subsequently arraigned, having been in custody for twenty-five days. The confessions were introduced at the trial and a conviction of manslaughter followed. Defendant, failing to gain a reversal in the state court, sought review by the United States Supreme Court, charging that a failure to arraign the defendant promptly in breach of local statutes was a want of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. On certiorari, held, affirmed, Justices …

Transfer Of Federal Offenses Committed In More Than One District Or Division, Lester B. Orfield

Michigan Law Review

Rule 21 (b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides: "The court upon motion of the defendant shall transfer the proceeding as to him to another district or division, if it appears from the indictment or information or from a bill of particulars that the offense was committed in more than one district or division and if the court is satisfied that in the interest of justice the proceeding should be transferred to another district or division in which the commission of the offense is charged."

Constitutional Law-Evidence-Use Of Illegally Obtained Evidence And Due Process Of Law, Allan Neef S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is fundamental, even in a federal system, that a state be free to regulate the procedure of its courts in accordance with its own conceptions of proper policy, subject only to constitutional limitations safeguarding individuals from arbitrary action by the state. In the United States this constitutional protection is two-fold-both state and federal constitutions acting as limitations on state action. As a result, a problem arises as to what extent the federal courts can, in the enforcement of federal constitutional limitations, override state criminal procedures and the policies underlying them. It is clear that the states have, by virtue …

Constitutional Law-Fifth Amendment-Privilege Against Self-Incrimination By Admission, Or Knowledge, Of Communist Activities, Morris G. Shanker

Michigan Law Review

ln response to a subpoena, petitioner appeared as a witness before a United States district court grand jury. Several questions concerning· her knowledge and association with the Communist Party were put to her. In each case, she refused to answer the questions, claiming the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. For refusal to answer these same questions when brought before the district court, petitioner was adjudged to be in contempt of court. The court of appeals affirmed the holdings, and certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court. Held, judgment reversed. The Smith Act makes it unlawful to advocate knowingly the desirability …

Habeas Corpus-Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts To Review Jurisdiction Of Military Tribunals When The Prisoner Is Physically Confined Outside The United States, Willis B. Snell S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The question of the power of federal courts to issue the writ of habeas corpus for a prisoner confined outside the territorial United States has not as yet been completely answered. Until recently, there were few instances in which anyone was confined outside the United States under the authority of the United States. However, during and since World War II, American military tribunals have exercised power over citizens and aliens, civilians and military personnel, in many parts of the world, and especially in Germany and Japan. Because of this extended use of military tribunals, the question of the power of …

Criminal Law-Confessions And Due Process, Harold G. Christensen S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was arrested on suspicion of robbery and the next day confessed the theft of a car owned by a person who had been found dead a month previous. On the following evening, after a four and one-half hour "interview" with two F.B.I. agents, he "broke down and confessed the killing." Other confessions were made the next day and finally, after a detention of five days from the day of arrest, petitioner was taken before a committing magistrate. He was found guilty of murder at a trial in which these confessions were used against him. He sued out a writ …

Habeas Corpus-Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts To Review Jurisdiction Of Military Tribunals When The Prisoner Is Physically Confined Outside The United States, Willis B. Snell S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The question of the power of federal courts to issue the writ of habeas corpus for a prisoner confined outside the territorial United States has not as yet been completely answered. Until recently, there were few instances in which anyone was confined outside the United States under the authority of the United States. However, during and since World War II, American military tribunals have exercised power over citizens and aliens, civilians and military personnel, in many parts of the world, and especially in Germany and Japan. Because of this extended use of military tribunals, the question of the power of …

Criminal Law-Confessions And Due Process, Harold G. Christensen S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was arrested on suspicion of robbery and the next day confessed the theft of a car owned by a person who had been found dead a month previous. On the following evening, after a four and one-half hour "interview" with two F.B.I. agents, he "broke down and confessed the killing." Other confessions were made the next day and finally, after a detention of five days from the day of arrest, petitioner was taken before a committing magistrate. He was found guilty of murder at a trial in which these confessions were used against him. He sued out a writ …

Military Habeas Corpus: Ii, Seymour W. Wurfel

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine is well established that habeas corpus is an extraordinary remedy which will not ordinarily lie where the law has provided another remedy. The numerical pressure of habeas corpus petitions by all types of prisoners in recent years has reached such proportions as to constitute a major problem in the administration of justice. It has engaged the administrative consideration of judicial officers and been the subject of legislation both federal and state. The Chief Justice of the United States in an address before the American Bar Association on September 7, 1949 strikingly stated the problem and urged "that something …

Constitutional Law-Fourteenth Amendment-Discrimination In Selection Of Grand Jurors, Alan C. Boyd S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant's conviction of murder was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which rejected defendant's claim that discrimination in selection of the indicting grand jury had violated his constitutional rights. Defendant pointed out that the Negro proportion of grand jurors had uniformly been less than the ratio of Negroes to the total population of the county, and that on the past twenty-one lists the commissioners had consistently limited the number of Negroes to not more than one on each grand jury. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, reversed. Limitation of the number of Negroes on …

Military Habeas Corpus: I, Seymour W. Wurfel

Michigan Law Review

The mobilization of over twelve million persons into the armed forces in World War II made necessary a vastly expanded resort to court martial proceedings to enforce the criminal law. The trial by military tribunals of civilian employees of the military establishment in overseas areas and of prisoners of war and war crimes defendants added substantially to the number confined by military authority. On January 31, 1950, there remained in federal penal institutions 2508 prisoners serving civilian type felony sentences imposed by military tribunals. Before World War II, legal problems arising from attempts to invoke the remedy of habeas corpus …

Appeal And Error-Significance Of Denial Of Certiorari As Precedent By United States Supreme Court, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondents were found guilty of contempt of court for broadcasting dispatches concerning a person about to be tried on a charge of murder. The convictions were reversed on constitutional grounds by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, relying upon certain decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The state sought a writ of certiorari on the ground that the Maryland court had misconceived the rulings of the Supreme Court. Although the application for certiorari was denied, Justice Frankfurter took occasion to write an opinion stating that the denial of the writ meant only that fewer than four members of the …

Constitutional Law-Fourth Amendment-Search Without A Warrant Incident To Arrest, G. B. Myers S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent was convicted of selling and of possessing and concealing forged and altered stamps of the United States with intent to defraud. The primary evidence of "possessing and concealing" consisted of numerous forged and altered stamps taken from respondent's one room office by Federal officers immediately after his arrest. The stamps were the product of a one and one-half hour search of the desk, safe and file cabinets in the office. The officers, though without a search warrant for the premises, made the arrest pursuant to a valid warrant. Respondent protested the search, and this protest was renewed by motions …

Soviet Socialism And Due Process Of Law, John N. Hazard

Michigan Law Review

An eminent American legal philosopher has recently written in the pages of this Review that Soviet leaders have discovered some ancient truths-namely, that some respect must be paid, sooner or later, to the principle of legality. In the light of various memoirs and disclosures of persons who have experienced or studied life in Soviet labor camps, such a statement invites incredulity. Can it have any basis in fact? Can it be possible that there is a dualism in Soviet practice, with one set of experiences supporting the conclusion that there is a trend toward legality and another set of experiences …

Judgments - Double Jeopardy - Res Judicata - Effect Of Prior Conviction Or Acquittal On Subsequent Suit For Statutory Penalty Or Forfeiture, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The case of United States v. One De Soto Sedan has again focused attention on some of the perplexing problems raised by the statutory imposition of both criminal and civil sanctions for the same wrongful act. The court held that an acquittal in a criminal prosecution for possessing liquor on which no federal tax had been paid was a bar to a civil in rem proceeding to forfeit claimant's car as having been used in the removal, deposit and concealment of the same liquor with intent to defraud the United States of taxes. Since the two proceedings involved the same …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Right Of Condemned Prisoner To A Hearing On Claim Of Supervening Insanity, Robert P. Griffin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted of murder in a Georgia court and sentenced to die by electrocution. He made application to the governor to postpone execution on the ground that he had become insane after conviction. The governor, acting under authority of a state statute, appointed three physicians who conducted an examination of petitioner and found him sane. Thereupon, petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a state court contending that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment entitled him to a hearing on his insanity claim before a judicial or administrative tribunal at which he could …

Witnesses--Competence Of Defendant's Spouse As Witness For The Prosecution, William R. Worth S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, on trial for the offense of transporting across state lines a sum of money exceeding $5,000 feloniously obtained by fraud, was convicted largely through the testimony of his victim. The fraud charged consisted of a lightning courtship and hasty marriage, closely followed by the disappearance of the new husband along with the entire estate of the too-gullible bride. Over the objection of the defendant, his wife was permitted to testify to the swindle practiced upon her. After conviction, he filed a motion for a new trial, contending that it was error to permit a wife to testify against her …

Criminal Law-Confessions Obtained Prior To Commitment-What Constitutes Unreasonable Delay, B. J. George, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned by police. Defendants confessed after being held incommunicado for some hours during the night, but were not arraigned until the following morning. The confessions were admitted in evidence and defendants found guilty. On appeal, held, affirmed. There had not been an unreasonable delay in producing defendants before a commissioner, because the length of time in hours was not unreasonable and because committing magistrates are not available late at night. Garner v. United States, (App. D.C., 1949) 174 F. (2d) 499.

Mr. Justice Murphy And Civil Rights, Thurgood Marshall

Michigan Law Review

There is constant danger that the unpopularity of an individual, or of the group of which he is a member, will be reflected in dealings with his rights by his neighbors or by the organized community. In America today this bias is most likely to stern from differences of race, origin, nationality, or religious or political belief. Prejudice may victimize an entire group or any of its members. Any charge of shocking or anti-social conduct against one who is already thus unpopular increases the likelihood of unfair treatment. Not only private citizens, but legislators, judges and administrative officers of government …

The Rule Of Clear And Present Danger: Scope Of Its Applicability, Chester James Antieau

Michigan Law Review

The rule of clear and present danger originated in 1919 in an attempt by Mr. Justice Holmes to formulate a principle for the limitation of liberty with a conscious, intelligent weighing of the opposed societal interests. In the Schenck case, the societal and individual interest in freedom of expression clashed with the societal interest in defense of the state. In conflicts of this kind the criterion has had its most frequent application. The societal interest in preservation of the state was adequately protected by application of the test in prosecutions arising under the Espionage Act of 1917, although Mr. Justice …

The Intent Element In Contempt Of Injunctions, Decrees And Court Orders, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Recent years have seen increasing effort on the part of courts to distinguish between civil and criminal contempts. This effort has been engendered by an awareness of the different procedural and substantive aspects of the two classifications. A discussion of these aspects, as well as of the tests used to distinguish civil and criminal contempts, is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to say that those tests which have been applied leave much to be desired. The lack of clarity, so evident in prevailing tests, is in part a legacy from early decisions which permitted the two types …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Right To Counsel In State Courts, Charles Myneder

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was tried before a jury on a charge of larceny, convicted and sentenced to a penitentiary term. He did not request counsel, and the court made no offer to appoint counsel. In the course of the trial, petitioner was prejudiced by his failure to object to certain errors in evidence. In a petition for habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he alleged denial of a constitutional right of counsel. On answer, it was averred that in petitioner's conduct of his own defense he displayed a "familiarity with legal process in the criminal courts." A transcript of petitioner's …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Use Of Extraneous Evidence In Determining Criminal Sentence, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr. S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first degree with a recommendation for life imprisonment. In reliance on police and probation reports showing petitioner's background which included over thirty burglaries for which he had never been arraigned and a "morbid sexuality," the trial judge disregarded the jury's recommendation and imposed the death sentence. Although petitioner did not have an opportunity to examine the reports prior to the sentence hearing, he was represented by counsel at the hearing and did not challenge them at that time. Petitioner contended that he had been denied due process of law because his sentence had …

Habeas Corpus-Inadequacy Of State Remedy, Joseph Gricar

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner had pleaded guilty to a criminal indictment and was sentenced to prison by an Illinois circuit court. His petition for a writ of habeas corpus, based upon an alleged denial of due process at trial, was denied without hearing. The Illinois Supreme Court in People v. Loftus, decided in 1949, seems squarely to have held that habeas corpus is a proper post-trial proceeding for hearing charges of denial of due process. Since the Illinois Supreme Court does not review habeas corpus proceedings in the circuit court, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Held, remanded to the …

Constitutional Law-Privilege Against Self-Incrimination-Waiver Under Compulsory Testimony Act, John A. Nordberg

Michigan Law Review

Smith, sole owner and officer of a clothing corporation, appeared before an OPA examiner in response to a subpoena to produce the corporate books. Under the Emergency Price Control Act these records were required to be kept and preserved. Smith said that the records were "destroyed, lost, or misplaced.'' Then, on claiming privilege against self-incrimination, he testified as to activities of the corporation and contents of the absent records. During the interrogation Smith made a long statement in partial summation of his testimony. When he finished, he was asked, ''This is a voluntary statement. You do not claim immunity with …

Courts-Martial--Jurisdiction Over Person Discharged And Re-Enlisted For Offense Committed During Prior Enlistment, J. D. Mcleod S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, a chief petty officer in the Navy was honorably discharged on March 26, 1946, and re-enlisted on the following day. In 1947, he was tried by court-martial and convicted of cruelty, during his prior period-of service, to persons subject to his orders. The District Court sustained his writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the court-martial had no jurisdiction; the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. On certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States, held, the court-martial had no jurisdiction to try petitioner for an offense committed prior to his discharge and re-enlistment. United. States ex …

Constitutional Law-Due Process Of Law-Freedom From Unreasonable Search And Seizure-The Admissibility Of Illegally Seized Evidence, Bernard Goldstone S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Local police officers entered the private office of petitioner, a practising physician, without a warrant and seized his private books and records. As a result of the information thus obtained, petitioner was convicted of conspiracy to perform an abortion. Petitioner claimed that his constitutional rights were invaded contending that due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment includes freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and prevents the admission of illegally seized evidence, but this was denied by the Supreme Court of Colorado and the conviction was affirmed. On certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States, held, affirmed, …

Appeal And Error-Eisler's Flight And The Case And Controversy Question, Albert B. Perlin, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a federal court conviction on a charge of contempt of Congress. Pending determination of the appeal, appellant was released on bail and, after argument on the merits but before a decision had been rendered, he wrongfully fled the country. Subsequently the Attorney General notified the Court that appellant had been apprehended in England at the request of the Secretary of State and that a court of competent jurisdiction there found that appellant was not guilty of an extraditable offense under English law. The Court of its own motion then considered the …