fugitive from justice
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 221 U.S. 280 - Christopher Strassheim v. Milton Daily · 1911Most cited · 673 citing opinions
the criminal need not do within the state every act necessary to complete the crime. If he does there an overt act which is and is intended to be a material step toward accomplishing the crime, and then absents himself from the state and does the rest elsewhere, he becomes a fugitive from justice when the crime is complete, if not before. For all that is necessary to convert a criminal under the laws of a state into a fugitive from justice is that he should have left the state after having incurred guilt there.
How the Supreme Court has restated “fugitive from justice”
Each Supreme Court definition of “fugitive from justice,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “fugitive from justice”
Court decisions citing the 6 opinions that defined “fugitive from justice” — 2,637 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 6 definitions, chronological · 1906–1933
- ORIGINAL
A person charged by indictment or by affidavit before a magistrate with the commission within a state of a crime covered by its laws, and who, after the date of the commission of such crime, leaves the state,—no matter for what purpose or with what motive, nor under what belief,—becomes, from the time of such leaving, and within the meaning of the Constitution and the laws of the United States, a fugitive from justice, and if found in another state must be delivered up by the governor of such state to the state whose laws are alleged to have been violated, on the production of such indictment or affidavit, certified as authentic by the governor of the state from which the accused departed.
Extradition Clause
- 1907·207 U.S. 100 - People of the State of Illinois Ex Rel John McNichols v. James Pease[p8]· cited 284×
A person charged with crime against the laws of a state, and who flees from justice, that is, after committing the crime leaves the state, in whatever way or for whatever reason, and is found in another state, may, under the authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States, be brought back to the state in which he stands charged with the crime, to be there dealt with according to law.
It long has been established that, for purposes of extradition between the states, it does not matter what motive induced the departure. In extradition proceedings, even when a humane opportunity is afforded to test them upon habeas corpus, the purpose of the writ is not to substitute the judgment of another tribunal upon the facts or the law of the matter to be tried. The Constitution peremptorily requires that upon proper demand the person charged shall be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. There is no discretion allowed, no inquiry into motives. The technical sufficiency of the indictment is not open.
To be a fugitive from justice within the meaning of the constitutional and statutory provisions, it is sufficient that the person charged with a crime in one state left it after having committed the crime there, and was found in another state when sought to be reached by extradition proceedings.
extradition
he should not have been released unless it appeared beyond reasonable doubt that he was without the state of South Carolina when the alleged offense was committed and, consequently, could not be a fugitive from her justice