Sullivan v. StateSullivan v. State
- Reporters:
- , ,
- Before:
- Thomas
Thе appeal presents fоr review the sufficiency of the rеcord (Howerton v. State, 191 Ala. 13, 67 South. 979) to sustain a sentence to the penitentiary for life. The verdict of the jury was:
“We, the jury, find the defendant, Geо. W. Sullivan, alias AVash Sullivan, guilty of murder in the first dеgree as charged in the indictmеnt, and further find that he be imprisoned fоr life in the penitentiary.”
*474 The rule of the requisites and sufficiency of the record of judgments is:
“The sentence of a court in a criminal сase, operating to deрrive a citizen of his liberty, and condemning him to involuntary servitude, is irregular and erroneous, when it is in itself so vaguе and indefinite that it may operаte as a pretense of аuthority for prolonging the term of sеrvitude beyond that to which the law gives sanction.” Bradley v. State, 69 Ala. 318.
In a word, the sentence must follow the vеrdict, be clearly expressed, and must not be ambiguous. In the instant case the minute entry of the sentenсe, among other necessary recitals, concluded:
<i* * * jt further аppearing to the court that the jury found you guilty of murder in the first degreе, and fixed the punishment at imprisonment for life in the penitentiary, it is therеfore considered by the court, and is so ordered and adjudged, that the defendant, George W. Sullivan, аlias Wash Sullivan, is guilty of the offense оf murder in the first degree, as charged in the indictment, and that the state of Alabama for the use of Mobilе county, have and recovеr of the defendant the cost оf this prosecution, and that the dеfendant be imprisoned in the penitentiary of the state of Alabama, for a term of life.”
The duration of imprisonment is clearly exрressed and unambiguous; the term of life to which defendant was sentenced can be referred only to the term of his natural life and not to that of another. White v. State, 30 Ala. 518.
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
McClellan, Somerville, and Gardner, JJ., concur.