People ex rel. Castle v. Spivey

Decision Date20 March 1957
Docket Number34230,Nos. 34229,s. 34229
Citation10 Ill.2d 586,141 N.E.2d 321
PartiesThe PEOPLE ex rel. Latham CASTLE, Attorney General, Petitioner, v. Quinten SPIVEY, Circuit Judge, Respondent.
CourtIllinois Supreme Court

Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., Springfield, (Fred G. Leach, Decatur, and Edwin A. Strugala, Chicago, of counsel), for petitioner.

John M. Karns, John M. Karns, Jr., East St. Louis, and Paul H. Nehrt, Chester, for respondent.

DAVIS, Justice.

By leave of this court, two original petitions for mandamus have been filed by the petitioner to compel the respondent, Quinten Spivey, judge of the circuit court of Randolph County, to expunge orders entered by him in habeas corpus proceedings, by which he discharged Willard Schray and Fred William Bujenski from the custody of the warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Menard. The petitions for writ of habeas corpus, and the returns thereto, which include transcripts of the original proceedings in which Schray and Bujenski were convicted and committed to the penitentiary, and others thereafter made by the parole board, are set forth in the mandamus petitions. Respondent filed motions to dismiss these petitions which raise common questions of law, and accordingly the cases have been consolidated for opinion.

Willard Schray was indicted for the crime of armed robbery at the March, 1934, term of the circuit court of Lake County. The record shows that he shot the victim of the robbery three times without provocation, and that he had been previously imprisoned in Indiana for larceny and manslaughter. On April 26, 1934, he entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to the Illinois State Penitentiary, there to remain 'until discharged by due course of law.' The statutory penalty for armed robbery was then, as now, imprisonment in the penitentiary 'for any term of years not less than one year or for life.' (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1955, chap. 38, par. 501.) On July 13, 1956, Schray filed petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he had been convicted and sentenced for a term of one year to life; that he had served in excess of 22 years of his sentence and that he had 'paid the full penalty for said crime and is therefore entitled to release and discharge from further imprisonment.' He further alleged that since his imprisonment he had been subjected to cruel, unjust, severe, excessive and inhuman punishment by the Department of Public Safety and the Parole and Pardon Board in violation of his constitutional rights, in that the board had repeatedly refused to grant him a parole, and that by reason thereof he was being deprived of his liberty without due process of law in violation of the applicable provisions of the State and Federal constitutions. The warden, by the Attorney General and State's Attorney of Randolph County, made return to the writ of habeas corpus, and therein admitted the allegations concerning commitment and imprisonment; alleged that the prisoner was being held by virtue of the judgment of the circuit court of Lake County; denied that the prisoner was being deprived of his liberty without due process of law; alleged that the sentence imposed was for the maximum term of life and that the term had not expired; that parole is an act of clemency which the prisoner, as a matter of law, has no right to invoke at his own will, but is a matter of discretion to be exercised by the Parole and Pardon Board; and prayed that the petition be dismissed and the writ quashed. The return was not traversed. On the return day in the habeas corpus proceedings, the respondent, Judge Spivey, entered an order finding that Schray had duly served the time legally imposed upon him and discharged the prisoner from the custody of the warden.

The order discharging Bujenski was entered on the same day, contained a similar finding, and likewise discharged the prisoner. On October 28, 1935, a jury of the circuit court of Jefferson County found Bujenski guilty of the crimes of burglary and larceny. The theft involved a small amount of corn, and there is no proof that the defendant was armed at the time. The record recites prior forgery, petit larceny and drunkenness. On October 31, 1935, he was sentenced to the Illinois State Penitentiary 'for a period of years of not less than the minimum of one year nor more than the maximum (which may extend to life).' He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the circuit court of Randolph County on July 7, 1956; alleged his indictment, conviction and sentence in the circuit court of Jefferson County; and the petition contained further allegations similar to those of the Schray petition. The return filed by the warden was in form and substance like that filed in the Schray case. Exhibits attached to the return showed that Bujenski had been conditionally paroled four times during the period of his confinement, and on each occasion had been returned to prison for violation of parole. Bujenski's traverse to the return admitted that he was being held by virtue of the judgment of the circuit court sentencing him for a term of one year to life, and that such sentence was for the maximum term provided by law, but reasserted that he was being held in violation of his constitutional rights; and denied that parole is an act of clemency and that the Parole and Pardon Board has unlimited discretion in that respect.

The respondent to the mandamus petitions does not question the validity of the original judgments of conviction of Schray and Bujenski and his motions to dismiss the petitions admit all of the material facts as set forth. The petitioner for mandamus argues that the respective petitions for writ of habeas corpus contained no allegations which, if true, entitled the prisoners to discharge, or which authorized the court to entertain them; that the orders of discharge entered by respondent were in excess of the jurisdiction of the court and are void. Respondent contends that though the original convictions were valid, he had jurisdiction under section 22 of the Habeas Corpus Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1955, chap. 65, par. 22) to order the discharge of the prisoners where events occurred subsequent to their convictions entitling them to discharge.

The broad question presented is whether the court over which respondent presided had jurisdiction to enter the orders in question. People ex rel. Carlstrom v. Shurtleff, 355 Ill. 210, 189 N.E. 291; People ex rel. Wayman v. Zimmer, 252 Ill. 9, 96 N.E. 529. This court has repeatedly recognized that mandamus is the proper remedy to expunge void orders entered in habeas corpus proceedings where the court which entered the order did so without jurisdiction. People ex rel. Barrett v. Crowe, 387 Ill. 53, 55 N.E.2d 84; People ex rel. Barrett v. Sbarbaro, 386 Ill. 581, 54 N.E.2d 559; People ex rel. Kerner v. Circuit Court, 354 Ill. 363, 188 N.E. 408; People ex rel. Carlstrom v. Shurtleff, 355 Ill. 210, 189 N.E. 291. The writ of mandamus cannot be sought where the object is to make it serve the normal function of a writ of error or of certiorari or an appeal. People ex rel. Dolan v. Dusher, 411 Ill. 535, 104 N.E.2d 775; People ex rel. Cassidy v. Fisher, 372 Ill. 146, 22 N.E.2d 937; People ex rel. Barrett v. Shurtleff, 353 Ill. 248, 187 N.E. 271; People ex rel. Peoples' Gas Light and Coke Co. v. Smith, 275 Ill. 210, 113 N.E. 891. Where the question of the court's jurisdiction in the habeas corpus proceeding is presented in a mandamus action, the inquiry is not limited to a determination of jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action and the parties to the petition. The determinative question is whether the court in the habeas corpus proceeding had jurisdiction to enter the particular judgment sought to be expunged. If, on the hearing of a habeas corpus proceeding, it appears that the court, although having jurisdiction of the subject matter and the parties, does not have jurisdiction to enter an order for the prisoner's release, any order except one dismissing the proceeding is void and should be expunged. People ex rel. Barrett v. Crowe, 387 Ill. 53, 55 N.E.2d 84; People ex rel. Carlstrom v. Shurtleff, 355 Ill. 210, 189 N.E. 291.

The prison sentences inflicted upon Schray and Bujenski were indeterminate, one year to life. An indeterminate sentence is for the full term fixed by law for the crime. People ex rel. Williams v. Robinson, 404 Ill. 338, 88 N.E.2d 860; People ex rel. Neville v. Ragen, 396 Ill. 565, 72 N.E.2d 175; People ex rel. Barrett v. Dixon, 387 Ill. 420, 56 N.E.2d 816; People ex rel. Ross v. Becker, 382 Ill. 404, 47 N.E.2d 475. Where the sentence is for one year to life, full satisfaction of the life sentence is required unless the prisoner is discharged according to law. The two methods by which the sentence for life might have been terminated were, (1) compliance with parole conditions, followed by discharge granted by parole authorities and approved by the Governor, or (2) a pardon or commutation of sentence by the governor. People ex rel. Williams v. Robinson, 404 Ill. 338, 88 N.E.2d 860; People ex rel. Neville v. Ragen, 396 Ill. 565, 72 N.E.2d 175; People ex rel. Ross v. Ragen, 392 Ill. 465, 64 N.E.2d 862; People ex rel. Barrett v. Dixon, 387 Ill. 420, 56 N.E.2d 816. Both Schray and Bujenski were sentenced for the full maximum term of life imprisonment. The record conclusively establishes that at the time the petitions for writs of habeas corpus were filed neither had served the full term for which he had been...

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