State ex rel. Lange v. Tahash

• Decision Date: 14 December 1962
• Docket Number: No. 38794,38794
• Citation: 119 N.W.2d 15,264 Minn. 300
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota ex rel. John Max LANGE, Appellant, v. Ralph H. TAHASH, Warden, Minnesota State Prison, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 15

119 N.W.2d 15

264 Minn. 300

STATE of Minnesota ex rel. John Max LANGE, Appellant, v. Ralph H. TAHASH, Warden, Minnesota State Prison, Respondent.

No. 38794.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 14, 1962.

Syllabus by the Court

Minn.St. 613.29, which provides that persons escaping from a 'penal institution' or from 'lawful custody of an officer' while being held on charge of felony shall be guilty of felony, Held applicable to person escaping from lawful custody of sheriff and county jail while being held on charge of felony; to wit, forgery in second degree.

Section 610.16, which prescribes punishment for conviction of felony where not otherwise fixed by statute, Held applicable in imposition of sentence upon person escaping from custody of sheriff or from county jail while being held on charge of felony, since § 613.29, which defines such escape as a felony, does not prescribe sentence therefor. Case governed by State v. Rasmussen, Minn., 118 N.W.2d 433.

John Max Lange, pro se.

Walter F. Mondale, Atty. Gen., Charles E. Houston, Sol. Gen., St. Paul, for respondent.

THOMAS GALLAGHER, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court of Washington County denying relator's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In his petition relator alleges that he is imprisoned in the State Prison at Stillwater under an invalid sentence for his escape from the custody of the sheriff of Ramsey County on the ground that he was sentenced pursuant to Minn.St. 613.29, ¹ rather than under § 641.19, ² which he asserts prescribes the penalty for such crime.

The facts with reference to relator's sentence and conviction are as follows: On June 23, 1960, an information charging him with the crime of forgery in the second degree was filed in the District Court of Ramsey County. On August 11, 1960, while being held in custody on such charge, he effected an escape from the custody of the sheriff of Ramsey County. On August 22, 1960, an information was filed in the district court of said county charging him under § 613.29 with 'wrongfully, unlawfully, and feloniously' escaping from the custody of the sheriff while being held on the charge of second-degree forgery, a felony.

On February 6, 1961, he was arraigned on the charge of forgery in the second degree and also on the charge of escape. The informations were read to him in their entirety, and having consulted with his counsel, he entered his plea of guilty to each of such charges. On that same date, he entered pleas of guilty to three prior felony convictions.

On March 2, 1961, relator was sentenced by the district court as follows:

'THE COURT: You, John Max Lange, having, in open court, entered a plea of guilty to the crime of Escape as charged in an Information filed in this Court on August 22, 1960, and you having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Forgery, in April, 1946, in the County of Franklin, State of Ohio, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on February 6, 1961, and you also having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, on the 18th day of February, 1937, in the County of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on the 6th day of February, 1961, and you also having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, on the 6th day of June, 1952, in the County of Ramsey, State of Minnesota, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on the 6th day of February, 1961, now, therefore,

'It is Hereby Adjudged and Determined that you, John Max Lange, are guilty of the crime of Escape as charged in said Information, and it is the judgment of this Court and the sentence of the law that, as punishment for said crime, increased by reason of your previous three felony convictions, that you be punished by confinement at hard labor in the State Prison of the State of Minnesota, at Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota, according to law until duly discharged by due course of law or competent authority; provided, however, and pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes Annotated 637.01, the maximum term of imprisonment under the foregoing sentence is hereby fixed at five years.'

Likewise, on March 2, the court sentenced relator as follows:

'THE COURT: You, John Max Lange, having, in open court, entered a plea of guilty to the crime of Forgery in the Second Degree as charged in an Information filed in this Court on the 22nd day of June, 1960, and you having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Forgery, in April, 1946, in the County of Franklin, State of Ohio, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on February 6, 1961, and you also having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, in the County of Ramsey, State of Minnesota, on the 18th day of February, 1937, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on the 6th day of February, 1961, and you also having acknowledged and confessed, in open court, that you were previously convicted of the crime of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, in the County of Ramsey, State of Minnesota, on the 6th day of June, 1952, as also charged in an Information filed in this Court on the 6th day of February, 1961, now, therefore

'It is Hereby Adjudged and Determined that you, John Max Lange, are guilty of the crime of Forgery in the Second Degree as set forth in said Information, and it is the judgment of this Court and the sentence of the law that, as punishment for said crime, increased by reason of your previous felony convictions, the three previous felony convictions, that you be punished by confinement at hard labor in the State Prison of the State of Minnesota, at Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota, according to law until duly discharged by due course of law or competent authority; provided, however, and pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes Annotated 637.01, the maximum term of imprisonment under the foregoing sentence is hereby fixed at ten years.

'And so there will be no misunderstanding in the record, the sentences are consecutive and not concurrent.

'Now, in connection with the Forgery in the Second Degree, the Court is of the opinion that, by reason of the character of the Defendant and all the facts and circumstances of this case the welfare of society does not require that this Defendant serve the second sentence which I have imposed, which is on the Forgery charge for...