King v. Lynn

• Decision Date: 23 November 1893
• Citation: 18 S.E. 439,90 Va. 345
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: KING. v. LYNN, Penitentiary Superintendent.1

18 S.E. 439

90 Va. 345

KING.

v.LYNN, Penitentiary Superintendent.¹

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 23, 1893.

Criminal Law—Increasing. Sentence—Previous Imprisonment—Constitutionality of Statute.

Code 1887, §§ 4179-4182, provide that, if a person sentenced to the penitentiary and received therein shall have been before sentenced to like punishment, and the record of his conviction does not show that he was sentenced under sections 3905 or 3900, requiring a sentence for an increased term in such cases, the superintendent of the penitentiary shall file an information in the circuit court of Richmond to require the convict to say whether he is the per-

son formerly convicted and sentenced; and if he remain silent, or deny such identity, a jury of bystanders shall be summoned to try the issue thus raised, and upon a verdict against the prisoner the court shall sentence him to such further confinement as is prescribed by chapter 190 in case of a second or third conviction. Held, that such provisions are constitutional, as such prisoner is not in the position of one charged with a crime for the first time, with all the presumptions of law in favor of his innocence.

Petition by Scott King, alias John Walker, for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner, having been sentenced to the state penitentiary, was brought before the circuit court of Richmond to be resentenced, (Code 1887, §§ 4179-4182,) as having before received a like punishment. He was tried under said sections, and resentenced. Writ denied.

R. Carter Scott and W. R. Booker, for petitioner.

R. Taylor Scott, Atty. Gen., for respondent.

HINTON, J. Section 4179 of the Code of 1887 makes the circuit court of the city of Richmond the court for the trial of all criminal proceedings against convicts in the pent tentiary. Section 4180 provides that "when a person convicted of an offense and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary is received therein, if he was before sentenced to a like punishment and the record of his conviction does not show that he has been sentenced under sections 3905 or 3906, the superintendent of the penitentiary shall give information thereof without delay to the said circuit court of the city of Richmond whether it be alleged or not in the indictment on which he was so convicted, that he had been before sentenced to a like punishment." Section 4181 provides that "the said court shall cause the convict to be brought before it and upon an information filed, setting forth the several records of convictions and alleging the identity of the prisoner with the person named in each shall require the convict to say whether he is the same person or not." Section 4182 provides that "if he say he is not or remain silent, his plea or the fact of his silence shall be entered of record and a jury of bystanders shall be impaneled to inquire whether the convict is the same person mentioned in the several records." Section 4183 provides that "if the jury find that he is the same person, or if he acknowledge in open court after being...