Ex Parte Watt

• Decision Date: 28 September 1950
• Docket Number: 9181
• Citation: 44 N.W.2d 119,73 S.D. 436
• Parties: EX PARTE DONALD EUGENE WATT.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

73 SD 436, 44 NW2d 119 (1950)

EX PARTE DONALD EUGENE WATT.

South Dakota Supreme Court

Original Proceeding

#9181—Writ Issued

Danforth & Danforth, Sioux Falls, SD

Attorneys for Petitioner.

Sigurd Anderson, Attorney General

William J. Flittie, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, SD

Attorneys for Defendant.

Opinion Filed Sep 28, 1950

SEACAT, Circuit Judge.

On November 17, 1942, an information containing two counts was filed in the Circuit Court of Lawrence County, South Dakota, charging Donald Eugene Watt with the crime of grand larceny in the first count, and the crime of burglary in the third degree in the second count, to which information the said Donald Eugene Watt entered his plea of guilty to both counts. Immediately thereafter a second information was filed in said court by the state’s attorney charging the said Donald Eugene Watt with being an habitual criminal, and alleging his conviction of four prior felonies, to which information he entered a plea of guilty. Thereupon the court pronounced the following sentence, omitting formal parts:

“... The court is bound to take notice of the nature and character of the offenses with which you have been previously charged and convicted, as well as the offenses committed in this county and state.”

“Upon Count I of the information charging you with the crime of grand larceny, it will be the sentence and judgment of the court that you be imprisoned in the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the term and period of five years; and upon Count II of the information charging you with burglary in the third degree, it will be the sentence and judgment of the court that you be imprisoned at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the state penitentiary for the term and period of ten years, and that you stand committed to the custody of the sheriff of Lawrence county, South Dakota, pending execution of both of such sentences.”

“Upon the information charging you as an habitual criminal, it seems that under the law of this state and under the record you have made, it becomes the duty of the court to sentence you to the penitentiary for life. If the time is shortened it must be shortened by those who have authority to give you your liberty. You have not heretofore appreciated or had any understanding of your duties as a citizen. You seem to demonstrate at every opportunity that you must wrong someone. It is unfortunate that you have so made your life and so established a record, so it will be the sentence and judgment of the court that upon your plea of guilty to the information charging you as an habitual criminal you be imprisoned in the Sioux Falls penitentiary for and during the term and period of your natural life and that you stand committed to the sheriff of Lawrence county pending the execution of that sentence. ...”

Thereafter on the same day, the judge signed and entered a written judgment to the effect that the defendant, Donald Eugene Watt, be imprisoned in the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls on Count I for the full term of five years, and on Count II for the full term of ten years, and that upon the information charging him as an habitual criminal with the commission of four previous felonies, he be imprisoned for the full term and period of his natural life, and committing the defendant to the custody of the sheriff pending the execution of the judgment. The said Donald Eugene Watt was thereupon committed to the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

On the 28th day of February, 1950, the petitioner, Donald Eugene Watt, applied to the Circuit Court of Minnehaha County, Second Judicial Circuit, for a writ of habeas corpus, and the court issued an alternative writ directed to G. Norton Jameson, warden of the penitentiary; and thereafter, the attorney general having made due return to said application and writ, the prisoner, Donald Eugene Watt, was brought before the court, appearing by his counsel, and the warden appearing in person and by an assistant attorney general, and a hearing was had thereon.

On the 8th day of April, 1950, the circuit court of Minnehaha County, South Dakota, entered a judgment in said habeas corpus proceedings, in which judgment the court found that the applicant pleaded guilty under one information in two counts, filed in the circuit court of Lawrence County, South Dakota, on the 17th day of November, 1942, one for grand larceny and one for burglary, and that on the same day there was also filed an additional information in the same court charging the petitioner with. being an habitual criminal, to which information he likewise pleaded guilty; and that thereupon the court proceeded to pronounce sentence immediately, ordering the said Donald Eugene Watt to be imprisoned in the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, upon Count I for the full term of five years, and upon Count II for the full term of ten years, and upon the information charging him as an habitual criminal, with the commission of four previous felonies, for the full term and period of his natural life, and committing the defendant to the custody of the sheriff of Lawrence County pending the execution of the judgment; and that the defendant was, on the 20th day of November, 1942, committed and delivered to the South Dakota state penitentiary, and that he was and is still being held under and by virtue thereof.

The court further found:

“... that from the facts and from the concessions made before the Court by the Attorney General’s office and from the form of sentence imposed, that portion of the judgment wherein and whereby the petitioner is sentenced for being an habitual criminal is not only erroneous, but null and void and of no force and effect. The Court likewise further finds that as no good time has been fixed and none could be fixed by the Board of Charities and Corrections as long as said life sentence existed, that the petitioner’s application for a writ of habeas corpus be and the same is denied and dismissed, and that the prisoner be remanded to the custody of the Warden of the State Penitentiary until his ten-year sentence is served, less good time, if granted by the Board of Charities and Corrections.”

And upon the above findings, the court entered the following judgment:

“Now therefore, it is ordered and adjudged that the writ of habeas corpus heretofore issued on the 28th day of February, 1950, and filed March 1, 1950, be and the same is hereby dismissed, and said petitioner, Donald Eugene Watt, is hereby remanded to the custody of said G. Norton Jameson, the Warden of said penitentiary, wit h instructions to make recommendations to the Board of Charities and Corrections, as provided by law in regard to the good time of said Donald Eugene Watt, and that said Donald Eugene Watt be only released by the Warden of the State Penitentiary when he has served the ten-year sentence, less such good time, if any, as may be fixed by the Board of Charities and Corrections, as provided by law.”

On the 6th day of April, 1950, upon the application of the attorney general, the Circuit Court of Lawrence County issued an order directing that the defendant, Donald Eugene Watt, be returned to Lawrence County for the purpose of resentence. An order and notice of hearing was given the defendant and his counsel, and a hearing had on the 8th day of May, 1950, at which hearing the defendant was present with his counsel; and on motion of the attorney general, and over the objection of the defendant, the court, with the Hon. Alex Rentto, judge, presiding, entered the following judgment, omitting the formal parts:

“And now, on this 8th day of May, 1950, it is by the Court ”

“Considered, ordered and adjudged that the Defendant, Donald Eugene Watt, on his plea of guilty to the charge contained in Count II of the information, and on his admission that he is the same person who committed the four felonies charged in the additional information filed herein, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary of the State of South Dakota, at Sioux Falls in Minnehaha County, in said State, for the full term and period of his natural life, said life sentence being enhanced punishment as a habitual criminal for the crime of burglary in the third degree; and further, that the sentence of ten (10) years, previously imposed for the offense of burglary in the third degree on November 17, 1942, is herewith vacated, such time as has already been served under said sentence to be deducted from the sentence herein imposed.”

“That the Defendant stand committed to the Sheriff of Lawrence County, pending the execution of this sentence and judgment.”

Thereupon the said Donald Eugene Watt was returned to the penitentiary where he is now confined. In the meantime, the record discloses that the Board of Charities and Corrections of the State of South Dakota had allowed the defendant Watt his time off for good behavior, so that he was eligible for discharge, on the ten-year sentence, June 20, 1950.

The said Donald Eugene Watt has now applied to this court for a writ of habeas corpus alleging, in substance, that he is unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the warden of the state penitentiary under the purported authority of the judgment of the Circuit Court of Lawrence County, South Dakota, dated May 8, 1950, which revoked the former judgment of said court sentencing the defendant to ten years’ imprisonment on the charge of burglary in the third degree, and imposing life imprisonment for the same offense.

In habeas corpus proceeding to inquire into imprisonment resulting from a judicial proceeding, the inquiry is limited to question affecting jurisdiction of court which caused the imprisonment. SDC 37.5504; State ex rel. Engebritson v. Circuit Court for Grant and Day Counties, 69 SD 454, 11 NW2d 659, 150 ALR 739; State ex rel. Smith v. Jameson, 70 SD 503, 19 NW2d 505.

There is no dispute in the facts, and therefore the only question presented is whether it was...