96 Mo. 116 | Mo. | 1888
In case number 1305 Jackson was, on October 15, found guilty of forgery. In case number 1306, he was also found guilty of forgery, on November 5, 1885. In case number 1307, he entered a plea of guilty of forgery, on November 6, 1885. Subsequently, sentences of imprisonment in the penitentiary
The section of the statute applicable to this case is as follows : “ When any person is convicted of two or more offenses, before sentence shall have been pronounced upon him for either offense, the imprisonment to which he shall be sentenced upon the second or other subsequent conviction, shall commence at the termination of the term of imprisonment to which he shall be adjudged upon prior conviction.” R. S., sec. 1659. While it is true that the sentences imposed upon the petitioner might all have been pronounced against him upon the same day, it does not thence follow that there was anything either irregular or erroneous in imposing the respective sentences on him on two different days of the same term. The statute evidently contemplates that all the convictions of a prisoner, at any one term of court, shall precede his being sentenced in any one case; but that where this course is pursued and sentence pronounced upon him, for one offense, that then sentences for other offenses shall follow in regular order, each term commencing at the termination of the term of imprisonment to which he shall have been just previously adjudged.
The only point, therefore, left for discussion is this : Whether the prisoner, having been sentenced at the same term of court to three successive terms of imprisonment in the penitentiary, having reversed the judgment and sentence of imprisonment pronounced against him, as to the second or middle term, and served out his sentence as to the first term, is entitled to be discharged from serving out his third or last term. To this point, the response must be in the negative, and for
But furthermore, even if the action of the lower court was as unwarranted as counsel claim, still the petitioner could not be discharged, because, under the provisions of section 2688, Revised Statutes, it would be the duty of this court to sentence him according to law, if the proper sentence had not been previously pronounced against him. Ex parte Bethurum, 66 Mo. 545.
The petitioner will be remanded into the custody of the warden.