In re Benson

Citations

• 131 F. 968
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4967

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal Law — Removal of Prisoner to Another District — Sufficiency of Indictment.</p> <p>Technical or formal objections to the sufficiency of an indictment will not be considered in proceedings for the removal of a federal prisoner to the district in which he is triable, but will be left for determination by the court in which it was found; but if, on a broad and liberal construction, the indictment does not appear to charge an offense, the prisoner should not be held for removal.</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>An indictment for conspiracy under Rev. St. § 5440 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3676], charged that petitioner conspired with others to obtain by means of fictitious applications and other false and' fraudulent practices from the states of California and Oregon the title to large amounts of school lands owned by said several states, and lying within the boundaries of United States forest reservations, and then to exchange such lands, under the federal statutes providing therefor, for public lands of the United States subject to homestead entry outside of such reservations. Held, that while such acts would constitute a conspiracy to defraud the states, the indictment did not charge a “conspiracy to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States in any manner,” within the meaning of the statute, since it appeared from its averments that the United States would obtain title to the school lands by the exchanges contemplated; and that such indictment would not sustain proceedings for the removal of petitioner to the district of the indictment for trial.</p> <p>¶1. See Criminal Law, vol. 14, Cent. Dig. § 509.</p>