87 N.E.2d 750 | Ill. | 1949
Plaintiff in error, Earl Nicholson, hereafter called defendant, on September 16, 1929, entered a plea of guilty *123 to an indictment for murder, returned in the criminal court of Cook County. On September 23, 1929, the court entered the following sentence and judgment:
"THEREFORE, it is considered, ordered and adjudged by this Court that the said Defendant Earl Nicholson is guilty of the said crime of Murder * * * and that he be and is hereby sentenced to confinement at hard labor in the Penitentiary of this State, at Joliet, in the State of Illinois, * * * for the term of his natural life, * * * from and after the delivery of the body of said defendant Earl Nicholson to the Keeper or Warden of said Penitentiary, * * * and the said Warden or Keeper is hereby required and commanded to * * * confine him in said Penitentiary in safe and secure custody, for and during the term of his Natural Life at hard labor from and after the delivery thereof.
"It is further ordered by the Court that the said imprisonment shall begin at the expiration of the sentence of imprisonment of the said Earl Nicholson this day entered in cause No. 53712 on the docket of this Court, being The People of the State of Illinois v. Earl Nicholson in the cause of robbery, etc., at the present term of this Court."
The only error assigned is that the sentence is vague, indefinite, inconsistent and void, or, in the alternative, that the sentence for murder ran concurrently with the sentence for robbery.
The rule is well settled that where the judgment order fails to clearly define the limits of sentences intended to run consecutively, or requires the aid of a court for its construction, the cause should be remanded for the imposition of a proper sentence. (People v. White,
In People v. Wooten,
In this case the judgment sentencing the defendant to imprisonment for life from the date of delivery of his body to the warden was a lawful one, which he was serving concurrently with the sentence for robbery, and that portion of the sentence purporting to make its commencement start with the ending of the sentence for robbery is void for the reasons above set forth.
Defendant asks that the judgment be either remanded for a correct sentence, or that the sentence in this case for murder be held as being served during the time he was imprisoned under the conviction for robbery. Since the sentence for robbery was subject to control by the Parole Board as to length of time, it would be harsh and unjust for us to presume the length of time served by the defendant on the robbery conviction, and accordingly we hold that *125 defendant has been serving his life sentence for murder since the date of his incarceration thereunder, and also concurrently serving his sentence in the robbery case, No. 53712.
A remandment of the cause is not necessary, and the judgment of the criminal court of Cook County is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.