People v. Vitali

• Decision Date: 24 April 1909
• Citation: 156 Mich. 370,120 N.W. 1003
• Parties: PEOPLE v. VITALI.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

156 Mich. 370

120 N.W. 1003

PEOPLE

v.VITALI.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

April 24, 1909.

Error to Recorder's Court of Detroit; William F. Connolly, Judge.

Andrea Vitali was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life imprisonment, and brings error. Affirmed.

See, also, 153 Mich. 514, 116 N. W. 1066.

Argued before OSTRANDER, HOOKER, MOORE, McALVAY, and BROOKE, JJ. Joseph T. Schiappacasse, for appellant.

John E. Bird, Atty. Gen., George S. Law, Asst. Atty. Gen., Philip T. Van Zile, Pros. Atty., and Fred H. Aldrich, Asst. Pros. Atty., for the People.

McALVAY, J.

Respondent was informed against in the recorder's court for the city of Detroit for the murder of Pauli Sacrona. He was duly tried and found by the jury guilty of murder in the second degree. He was later sentenced by the court to be committed to the state prison at Jackson for life.

Respondent was tried, convicted, and sentenced under section 11,471, Comp. Laws 1897, which reads: ‘All other kinds of murder shall be deemed murder of the second degree, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life, or any term of years, in the discretion of the court trying the same.’ Error is assigned upon this sentence as contrary to the provisions of section 3, Act No. 184, p. 268, Pub. Acts 1905; it being claimed that it is void because it is a sentence for life, and it does not fix a maximum and minimum term of imprisonment.

The act is known as the ‘Indeterminate Sentence Law.’ Section 1 provides that hereafter any person convicted of crime committed after this law takes effect, for which the punishment prescribed by law may be imprisonment in certain prisons named, ‘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,’ and that the maximum penalty fixed by law shall in all cases be the maximum sentence except as herein provided, and shall be stated at the time of sentence, and the judge shall recommend at the time of sentence what in his judgment would be the proper maximum penalty, not exceeding the statutory limit in any case. Section 2 provides that the maximum term can in no case exceed the statutory limit, and that the minimum term fixed shall not exceed one-half of the maximum term fixed by statute.

The only question raised in the case involves the construction of section 3 of this act, which provides as follows: ‘Sec. 3. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any person convicted of an offense the only punishment for which prescribed by law is imprisonment in one of the penal institutions named for life; 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 both the minimum and maximum sentence. The minimum term of imprisonment thus fixed by the court shall not exceed one-half of the maximum term so fixed.’ This section by its terms refers to the provision of the preceding sections, which we have stated for the purpose of consideration in arriving at the legislative intent in construing section 3. If the contention of respondent is correct, that a life...