Attletweedt v. State
| Decision Date | 25 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-254,83-254 |
| Citation | 684 P.2d 812 |
| Parties | James ATTLETWEEDT, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Leonard D. Munker, State Public Defender, Sylvia Lee Hackl, Appellate Counsel, Cheyenne, and Martin J. McClain, Asst. Appellate Counsel, Wyoming Public Defender Program, Laramie, for appellant; oral argument by Martin J. McClain.
A.G. McClintock, Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., John W. Renneisen, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Michael A. Blonigen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee; oral argument by Michael A. Blonigen, Asst. Atty. Gen.
Before ROONEY, C.J., and THOMAS, ROSE, BROWN and CARDINE, JJ.
This is another case engendered by the enactment of the new criminal code with an effective date of July 1, 1983. Appellant contends that his sentence on October 21, 1983 should have been under the new criminal code rather than under the former law, although he pleaded guilty to grand larceny on June 3, 1983.
We will reverse and remand for resentencing.
Appellant's guilty plea was to an information charging him with grand larceny of personal goods in value of approximately $390.00 in violation of § 6-7-301, W.S.1977, which provided:
"Whoever feloniously steals, takes and carries, leads or drives away the personal goods of another of the value of one hundred dollars ($100.00) or upwards, is guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than ten (10) years."
At the time he pleaded guilty, appellant was specifically informed that he could receive a sentence of up to ten years in the state penitentiary.
Section 6-3-402, W.S.1977, of the new criminal code consolidated many of the larceny offenses into one statute. It provides:
Since the effective date of the new criminal code was July 1, 1983, appellant contends that when he was sentenced on October 21, 1983, he was subject to a maximum sentence of one year and/or a fine of not more than $2,000.00 inasmuch as the value of the property taken was $390.00.
The trial court imposed sentence under the former law in reliance on subsection (b) of § 6-1-101, W.S.1977, of the new criminal code. Section 6-1-101 of the new code provides:
The appellant points to subsection (c) of that statute and argues that it requires any penalty to be the lesser of the penalties authorized by the former and present laws.
It is obvious that subsections (b) and (c) are ambiguous, if not inconsistent. Prosecution includes sentencing. Territory of Wyoming v. Nelson, 2 Wyo. 346, 352 (1880); Warden, Lewisburg Penitentiary v. Marrero, 417 U.S. 653, 658, 94 S.Ct. 2532, 2535, 41 L.Ed.2d 383, reh. denied 419 U.S. 1014, 95 S.Ct. 334, 42 L.Ed.2d 288 (1974). If a case spans the effective date of the new code, sentencing (part of prosecution) cannot be both (1) governed by the law in effect on the date the crime occurred, and (2) be the lesser of the penalties provided by the former law and new code. Appellant urges us to completely disregard the provisions of subsection (b) insofar as they pertain to sentencing. Appellee suggests that subsection (c) provides an exception to the general rule and that the determination as to its applicability is governed by the word "pending." It contends that the case ceases to be pending when guilt is ascertained.
We cannot completely agree with either position. We cannot disregard subsection (b) as it pertains to sentencing, and we cannot consider a case as not pending after guilt is ascertained and prior to sentencing.
A statute which is uncertain and susceptible to more than one meaning must be considered ambiguous. DeHerrera v. Herrera, Wyo., 565 P.2d 479, 481 (1977). When a statute is ambiguous, we...
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...760 (Wyo.1990); Story v. State, 755 P.2d 228 (Wyo.1988), cert. denied 498 U.S. 836, 111 S.Ct. 106, 112 L.Ed.2d 76 (1990); Attletweedt v. State, 684 P.2d 812 (Wyo.1984). Following our principle that all components of the constitution must be construed in pari materia, in that all words of th......
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...which Schuler relies occurred between the time his appeal was briefed and the time when it was argued. At that juncture Attletweedt v. State, 684 P.2d 812 (Wyo.1984), had not been decided. In Attletweedt, we ruled that a sentence which was not imposed before July 1, 1983 had to be imposed u......
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