State ex rel. Dalton v. Blair, 45522
| Decision Date | 16 October 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 45522,45522 |
| Citation | 365 Mo. 1167,294 S.W.2d 1 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. John M. DALTON, Attorney General of Missouri, Relator, v. Sam C. BLAIR, Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
John M. Dalton, Atty. Gen., Russell S. Noblet, Asst. Atty. Gen., for relator.
James J. Rankin, St. Louis, for respondent.
This is a proceeding by certiorari to review a judgment entered in a habeas corpus case (No. 3412) in the Cole County Circuit Court.
The facts are: In February, 1947, Arthur Joseph Berne, entered a plea of guilty in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, to a charge of burglary second degree and larceny. The court assessed a punishment of four years for the burglary and three years for the larceny. The pertinent portion of the sentence reads as follows: 'Wherefore, in consideration of the plea of guilty heretofore entered herein it is ordered, adjudged and decreed by the Court that the defendant be and is hereby sentenced to a term of four (4) years for burglary and three (3) years for larceny, said sentences to run consecutively, in the Missouri State Penitentiary * * *.' Berne was taken to the penitentiary and began serving his time. He was taken from the penitentiary to St. Louis, Missouri, and in the Circuit Court there entered a plea of guilty to seven charges of burglary second degree. On April 28, 1947, he received a sentence of seven years on each charge. The seven sentences were to run concurrently. However, the court made the following order in each case which is the subject matter of this proceeding: 'It is further ordered by the Court that this sentence commence at the expiration of sentence imposed in No. 3412, on the 13th day of February 1947, in the Circuit Court of Cole County, State of Missouri.' Berne was then returned to the penitentiary. On August 29, 1952, he was released on parole. On February 4, 1954, his parole was revoked and he was returned to the penitentiary.
The records of the penitentiary show that Berne completed his Cole County sentence on May 13, 1952, and that his imprisonment under the St. Louis sentence began May 13, 1952, so that his release date would be January 17, 1959. The time Berne was out on parole was not considered as imprisonment.
On May 3, 1954, Berne filed a proceeding for a writ of habas corpus in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, claiming that the order of the St. Louis Circuit Court, above set out, was ambiguous and indefinite because it used the word 'sentence' in the singular instead of the plural word 'sentences'; that because of this ambiguity the seven St. Louis sentences should run concurrently with the sentence imposed on him in Cole County.
On August 31, 1954, the Cole County Circuit Court denied the writ but held that the order of the St. Louis Circuit Court was ambiguous and the court made an order that the St. Louis sentences should begin at the end of the four-year sentence imposed on Berne for the burglary in Cole County. Under that order Berne would be entitled to his release on October 17, 1956.
We call attention to the fact that the order of the Cole County Circuit Court was made on August 31, 1954. The present certiorari proceeding was not filed until March 26, 1956, and the case was submitted on briefs in this court on October 2, 1956.
We see no ambiguity in the order made by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. It is apparent that the word 'sentence' as used in the order had reference to the punishment assessed against Berne in case No. 3412 in the Circuit Court of Cole County. Section 560.110 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., makes it mandatory in cases where a person who is found guilty of burglary is also found guilty of larceny in connection with the burglary that a punishment for the larceny shall be assessed in addition to the punishment for the burglary....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Cline
...for the offense then designated larceny should run concurrently with the term of imprisonment for burglary. State ex rel. Dalton v. Blair, 365 Mo. 1167, 294 S.W.2d 1, 3(1). In 1959 the general assembly nullified this decision by adding subsection two to § 560.110 which in substance provided......
-
State v. Gonterman
...State v. Runyon, 411 S.W.2d 69, 71(1) (Mo.1967); State v. Bursby, 395 S.W.2d 155, 161(7) (Mo.1965); State ex rel. Dalton v. Blair, 365 Mo. 1167, 294 S.W.2d 1, 3(1) (1956); State v. Huff, 173 S.W.2d 895, 896(4) (Mo.1943); State v. Meadows, 331 Mo. 533, 55 S.W.2d 959(2-3) The incumbent judge ......
-
State v. Bursby
...and remand it for a new trial for the reason indicated. State v. Meadows, 331 Mo. 533, 55 S.W.2d 959[2, 3]; State ex rel. Dalton v. Blair, 365 Mo. 1167, 294 S.W.2d 1, 3. For the reasons hereinabove discussed, the order overruling the motion to vacate is reversed and the cause All concur. 1 ......
-
State v. Parker, KCD
...in separate counts of the same indictment, . . .' Defendant relies on language relevant to an entirely different issue from State v. Blair, 365 Mo. 1167, 294 S.W.2d 1 (banc 1956), which, in effect, says that in regard to sentencing there is but one case where one is charged under 560.110 RS......