Shamblin v. Penn

• Decision Date: 18 November 1918
• Docket Number: 979.
• Citation: 97 S.E. 520,148 Ga. 592
• Parties: SHAMBLIN v. PENN.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

97 S.E. 520

148 Ga. 592

SHAMBLIN v. PENN.

No. 979.

Supreme Court of Georgia

November 18, 1918

Syllabus by the Court.

If a defendant be found guilty of more than one offense, and the imprisonment under one sentence is to commence at the expiration of the other, the sentence must so state, else the second punishment will be executed concurrently, and the defendant will be discharged on the expiration of the longer term. Fortson v. Elbert County, 117 Ga. 149, 43 S.E 492.

(a) The same rule applies where two sentences are imposed upon a conviction of separate misdemeanors at the same term of the court, and the judge, under the act approved August 16, 1913 (Acts 1913, p. 112), so molds each of the sentences as to allow the defendant to serve the same as a probationer outside of the confines of the chain gang, jail, or other place of detention, under the supervision of the court. Such sentences, though to be so served, will run concurrently.

In the city court of Floyd county, Caleb Shamblin pleaded guilty to an accusation charging him with the offense of gaming, and on March 26, 1917, he was sentenced to a term in the chain gang of eight months. Five days thereafter, in the same court, he pleaded guilty upon an indictment for vagrancy, and a sentence of eight months in the chain gang was imposed on him for that offense. It was not stated in either sentence that it was to commence upon the expiration of the other. Each sentence contained the following provision: "However, it is hereby ordered that Caleb Shamblin is hereby given leave to serve the aforesaid sentence outside the confines of the jail, chain gang, or other place of detention, as the case may be; provided that the aforesaid person shall indulge in no unlawful, disorderly, injurious, or vicious habits or conduct; shall avoid places and persons of disreputable or harmful character; shall report to the probation officer as directed; shall not leave the jurisdiction of the court without permission, and shall observe such other conditions as are specified below, or as may at any time be required by the court, the judge thereof, or the probation officer. * * * The probationer shall report to said probation officer as often as he deems necessary regarding his conduct while on probation." The probationer "violated his probation by running away about 30 days after he was sentenced, and was a fugitive from justice," and as soon as he was captured the judge...