State v. Butler, 9983

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
• Citation: 464 P.2d 931,93 Idaho 492
• Docket Number: No. 9983,9983
• Parties: The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William H. BUTLER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Decision Date: 10 February 1970

Page 931

464 P.2d 931

93 Idaho 492

The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William H. BUTLER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 9983.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Feb. 10, 1970.

Manweiler, Webb & Tway, Boise, for defendant-appellant.

Robert M. Robson, Atty. Gen., and Mack A. Redford, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for plaintiff-respondent.

McFADDEN, Chief Justice.

On November 23, 1966 the defendant-appellant, William H. Butler, pleaded guilty to a charge of second degree murder and was sentenced by the court to serve a term not to exceed seventy-five (75) years in the Idaho State Penitentiary. In passing sentence, the court stated

'* * * my primary duty being to protect society and the only thing I can do is to take whatever action is in my power to isolate you from society for as long as I can and strange as it may seem under our law a life sentence, while on its face it is the longed you can be isolated, under the rules and provisions as to parole you would be eligible sooner for parole under a life sentence than you would under a sentence for a number of years, I feel obligated in view of the nature of this crime to give you the sentence that I feel would protect society the longest. For these reasons it is the sentence of the court you serve not to exceed 75 years in the Idaho State Penitentiary.'

The defendant has appealed to this court, contending that the district court abused its discretion in sentencing him to serve seventy-five years because if a life sentence had been imposed he would have been eligible for parole after serving ten years whereas under I.C. § 20-223 he must serve one-third of a sentence for second degree murder, or, in this case, twenty-five years, before becoming eligible for parole.

I.C. § 20-223 provides that

'* * * no person serving a life sentence in the state penitentiary shall be eligible for release on parole until he has served at least ten years. * * * (And) no person serving sentence in the state penitentiary for * * * murder in the second degree, shall be released on parole before he has served at least one-third of his sentence.'

The present case is controlled by this court's decision in King v. State, 93 Idaho 87, 456 P.2d 254 (1969), which held that sentences in excess of thirty years are to be treated, for parole purposes, as life sentences and that a defendant serving such a sentence is eligible for parole after serving ten years. Therein it is stated:

'This statute (I.C. § 20-223), when construed together with the two provisos quoted above, expresses an intent by the legislature: (1) to grant parole eligibility to prisoners serving the maximum sentence of life imprisonment after ten years; (2) to grant parole eligibility to prisoners serving lesser sentences for certain other crimes after an amount of time equal to one-third the sentence. Since the maximum punishment for...