State v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 29 April 1942
• Docket Number: 433.
• Citation: 19 S.E.2d 863,221 N.C. 209
• Parties: STATE v. RICHARDSON.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

19 S.E.2d 863

221 N.C. 209

STATE v. RICHARDSON.

No. 433.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

April 29, 1942

Criminal prosecution upon an indictment charging the defendant with the felonious slaying of one Gladys Ruffin. The defendant through her attorneys, tendered a plea of guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which plea was accepted by the State.

Judgment Imprisonment in the State Prison for a term of seven years. The defendant appeals and assigns error.

Harry McMullan, Atty. Gen., and T. W. Bruton and G. B. Patton Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

Yarborough & Yarborough, of Louisburg, for defendant.

DENNY Justice.

The only exception is to the judgment of the Court. The defendant contends that upon a plea of guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which plea was accepted by the State, the Court was without authority to impose any judgment in excess of two years imprisonment in the State Prison, the offense of involuntary manslaughter not being an infamous crime therefore the sentence of imprisonment for seven years in the State Prison is unlawful.

Is a provision in a criminal statute "that the punishment shall be in the discretion of the Court and the defendant may be fined or imprisoned or both", the prescribing of a "specific punishment" within the meaning of Section 4172 of the Consolidated Statutes of North Carolina? The answer is in the affirmative. State v. Rippy, 127 N.C. 516, 37 S.E. 148; State v. Swindell, 189 N.C. 151, 126 S.E. 417.

In the case of State v. Dunn, 208 N.C. 333, 180 S.E. 708 709, this Court passed upon the proviso added to C.S. 4201 of North Carolina, by Chapter 249, Public Laws of 1933. In answer to the question: "Is the crime of involuntary manslaughter as contained in the proviso to C.S. § 4201, of the 1933 supplement to the North Carolina Code of 1931 a misdemeanor or a felony", Justice Brogden said: "The second question of law involves the amendment to C.S. § 4201 [of the Code of 1931]. Said section before the enactment of chapter 249 of the Public Laws of 1933 read as follows: 'If any person shall commit the crime of manslaughter he shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail or state prison for not less than four months nor more than twenty years.' Thereafter, on the 10th day of April, 1933, the General Assembly enacted chapter 249, Public Laws of 1933, in the following words: 'Section 1. That section four thousand two hundred and one of the Consolidated Statutes be and the same is hereby amended by adding a sentence to said section as follows: "Provided, however, that in cases of involuntary manslaughter, the punishment shall be in the discretion of the court, and the defendant may be fined or imprisoned, or both."' The defendant contends that the proviso added by the Legislature was designed to make involuntary manslaughter a misdemeanor instead of a felony, and that, therefore, the recorder's ...