221 Ga. 398 | Ga. | 1965
The only headnote requiring elaboration is headnote 3. In ground 4 it is asserted that it was error to fail
The law on the question of whether or not misdemeanor punishment may be imposed for the crime of robbery by force needs clarification by the General Assembly of this State. In § 27-2501 of the Code of 1933 it was provided that all felonies, except those therein enumerated, are punishable as prescribed, but on the recommendation of the jury trying the case, when approved by the trial judge, the crimes shall be punished as misdemeanors, and that the judge trying the case may reduce the felonies to misdemeanors. The excepted felonies did not include any crime of robbery.
In 1939 (Ga. L. 1939, pp. 285-288) the General Assembly passed an Act dealing with several matters in connection with sentencing persons convicted of felonies and misdemeanors. This Act did not specifically repeal § 27-2501 of the Code of 1933, but § 2 of the Act has almost the identical wording of' § 27-2501 except that the crime of robbery by force is added to the list of felonies not punishable as misdemeanors.
In 1964 (Ga. L. 1964, pp. 483-485) the General Assembly passed an Act repealing laws dealing with indeterminate sentences and providing that juries shall prescribe sentences for a specific number of years. In § 1 of this Act it is provided: “An Act approved March 24, 1939 (Ga. L. 1939, p. 285), otherwise known as Code section 27-2526, which provides for an indeterminate sentence in cases of felonies not punishable by life im
The conflicting provisions of the 1964 Act present the questions: (1) Was the 1939 act repealed in its entirety? (2) If the act of 1939 was repealed, would § 27-2501 of the Code of 1933, which did not include the crime of robbery by force in the felonies which could not be punished as for misdemeanors, and which was repealed by implication by the 1939 Act, be restored to full effect?
“That all parts of a legislative enactment shall, if possible, be harmonized and so construed as to reconcile apparent conflicts and to give effect to the apparent intention of the lawmakers, is a cardinal rule in the construction of statutes.” Cason v. Harn, 161 Ga. 366 (2) (131 SE 88). While §§ 1 and 5 of the 1964 Act (Ga. L. 1964, pp. 483-485) are conflicting, we are of the view that the legislative intent, as evidenced by the entire Act, was not to repeal § 2 of the 1939 Act (Ga. L. 1939, pp. 285, 287), dealing with the reduction of felony sentences to misdemeanors.
In this view of the legislative intent in the 1964 Act (Ga. L. 1964, pp. 483-485), the crime of robbery by force is included in those felonies which may not be punished as for misdemeanors, and the trial judge in the present case did not err in failing to charge the jury that they might recommend that the defendant be punished as for a misdemeanor.
Judgment affirmed.