Ex parte Forscutt

• Decision Date: 03 November 1911
• Parties: Ex parte FORSCUTT.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

167 Mich. 438

133 N.W. 315

Ex parte FORSCUTT.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Nov. 3, 1911.

William Forscutt petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus for his release from confinement in the state prison under sentence. Certificate to the warden of the state prison that petitioner was entitled to an immediate discharge.

Argued before OSTRANDER, C. J., and BIRD, MOORE, BROOKE, BLAIR, McALVAY, STONE, and STEERE, JJ. Frank A. Lyon, for petitioner.

George S. Law, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the People.

OSTRANDER, C. J.

Upon the 15th day of September, 1905, in the circuit court for the county of Hillsdale, petitioner was convicted of the crime of burglary, alleged to have been committed December 23, 1904. It is assumed that it was determined by the verdict that he had committed an act defined in 3 Comp. Laws, in either section 11,546 or in section 11,547, as a crime; the penalty prescribed in either section being imprisonment in the state prison not more than 15 years. He was sentenced to be confined ‘in the state prison at Jackson for the minimum period of seven years and six months and a maximum period of fifteen years from and including this day. The court recommends a maximum sentence of ten years.’

Petitioner has since been, and is now, in the custody of the warden of the state prison at Jackson, Mich. The warden of the prison returns that the conduct of the petitioner at the prison has been such that he is entitled to all good time allowed by law and the rules of the prison, and that if his good time should be deducted from the minimum term of his sentence such minimum term has expired.

At the time of the commission of the alleged offense, Act No. 136, of the Public Acts of 1903, in effect after September 21, 1903, was in force, and said act repealed all acts and parts of acts in conflict with its provisions. The last-mentioned act was followed by Act No. 184, of the Public Acts of 1905, approved June 7, 1905, taking immediate effect and in force at the time of the conviction and sentence. These acts provide, among other things, for indeterminate sentences. It is contended that no indeterminate sentence could lawfully have been imposed upon petitioner. It is a further contention that the sentence imposed can be held valid only for the minimum period therein stated.

It will be assumed that the Legislature did not intend to relieve from punishment, or from indeterminate sentence, persons who, during the period from September 21, 1903, to June 7, 1905, committed offenses, punishable when committed, for which they were not, during the same period, convicted and sentenced.

The title and first section of the acts of 1903 and 1905 read, respectively, as follows:

‘An act to provide for the indeterminate sentence and for the disposition, management and release of criminals under such sentence, and for the expense attending the same.

‘The people of the state of Michigan enact:

‘Section 1. Every sentence to the State Prison at Jackson, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, to the State House of Correction and Branch of the State Prison in the Upper Peninsula, and to the Detroit House of Correction, of any person hereafter convicted of a crime, except of a person sentenced for life, or a child under fifteen years of age, shall be an indeterminate sentence as hereinafter provided. The term of imprisonment of any person so convicted and sentenced shall not exceed the maximum term provided by law for the crime for which the prisoner was convicted and sentenced, and no prisoner shall be sicharged until after he shall have served at least the minimum term as provided by law for the crime for which he was convicted: Provided, that in all cases where the maximum sentence, in the discretion of the court, may be for life or any number of years, the court imposing sentence shall fix the maximum sentence: Provided further, that in all cases where no minimum sentence is fixed by law, the court imposing sentence shall fix such minimum, which minimum shall not be less than six months.’

‘An act to provide for the indeterminate sentence as a punishment for crime, upon the conviction thereof, and for the detention and release of persons in prison or detained on such sentence, and for the expense attending the same.

‘The people of the state of Michigan enact:

‘Section 1. That when any person shall hereafter be convicted of crime committed after this act takes effect, the punishment for which prescribed by law, may be imprisonment in the State Prison at Jackson, the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, the State House of Correction and Branch of the State Prison in the Upper Peninsula, or the Detroit House of Correction, the court imposing sentence, shall not fix a definite term of imprisonment, but shall fix a minimum term of imprisonment which shall not be less than six months in any case. The maximum penalty provided by law shall be the maximum sentence in all cases except as herein provided and shall be stated by the judge in passing sentence. The judge shall at the time of pronouncing such sentence recommend and state therein what, in his judgment, would be a proper maximum penalty in the case at...