Henderson v. James

52 Ohio St. (N.S.) 242
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 1895
StatusPublished

This text of 52 Ohio St. (N.S.) 242 (Henderson v. James) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henderson v. James, 52 Ohio St. (N.S.) 242 (Ohio 1895).

Opinion

Burket, J.

The latter part of section 7325, Revised Statutes, provides that “if any convict escape from the penitentiary, * * * * no part of the time such convict is absent shall be counted as a part of the time for which such convict was sentenced.”

The plaintiff in error claims, that as his sentence in Cuyahoga county was not made to begin in the future, that,his imprisonment under that sentence began at once upon his arrival at the penitentiary, and that by virtue of the above section, his imprisonment, under the Warren county sentence, ag’ain began to run immediately upon his return to the penitentiary, so that-both sentences were being served at the same time, and that upon the expiration of the longer sentence, he was entitled to his discharge from both sentences. There was no attempt to invoke the doctrine of cumulative sentences, and the prisoner was sentenced to five years without knowledge on part of the court, that he was an escaped convict.

•As we have no statute authorizing cumulative sentences for crime, it would seem at first blush, that such sentences should not be permitted in [255]*255this state; hut this court, with the courts of most of the other states, as well as England, has sustained cumulative sentences without the aid of a statute. Williams v. State, 18 Ohio St., 46; Picket v. State, 22 Ohio St., 405; Larney v. Cleveland, 34 Ohio St., 599; Bishop’s Criminal Law, section 953; Rex v. Wilkes, 4 Burr., 2575; State v. Smith, 5 Day (Conn.), 175; Fitzpatrick v. People, 98 Ill., 269; Mims v. State, 26 Minn., 498; Mills v. Com., 13 Pa. St., 631; Russell v. Com., 7 S. & R. (Pa.), 489; Petition of McCormick, 24 Wis., 492; Kite v. Com., 11 Met. 581. In Texas, Indiana and Kentucky, the courts hold cumulative sentences unauthorized. In Indiana there is a statute to the effect, that the term of service shall commence on the day of conviction and sentence, See Kennedy v. Howard, 74 Ind., 87; Prince v. State, 44 Tex., 480; Hannahan v. State, 7 Tex. App., 664, and Baker v. State, 11 Tex. App., 262, and James v. Ward, 2 Met. (Ky.), 271.

The great weight of authority is m favor of cumulative sentences, and they should be upheld on principle. The severe punishments which induced judges to invent technicalities to aid the acquittal of those on trial, on criminal charges, no longer exist, and under our just and humane statutes, those who violate the law should be duly punished for each offense. Tilgham, C. J., in Russell v. The Commonwealth, 7 S. & R. 489, well says: “But to consider the thing on principle; where a man has been sentenced to imprisonment for one offense, and is afterward convicted of another, what can be so proper as to make his imprisonment for the second offense, commence at the expiration of the first imprisonment. Would it not be absurd, to make one imprisonment, a pun[256]*256ishment for two offenses? Nay the absurdity does not end there, for unless imprisonment for the last offense is to begin where the imprisonment for the first ends, it would be impossible, under our system, to punish the offender, in certain cases, for the last offense, at all.”

But as there was no attempt to impose a cumulative sentence in this case, it might be said that, the doctrine of the cumulative sentences is not involved in this case. It has been argued at length and in one phase of the ease it is pertinent.

Had the court known that the prisoner on trial was the escaped convict, Henderson, the court might, on proper proof of that fact, have sentenced him to five years service in the penitentiary, and ordered him to be delivered to the warden, and fixed his term of service to begin at the expiration of the Warren county sentence. The power of the court to do this, in the absence of any statute, seems clear from the cases above cited.

Again, had the court known that the prisoner under indictment in Cuyahoga county, was the escaped convict Henderson, the warden of the penitentiary might have been notified and the convict returned to the penitentiary to serve out his Warren county sentence. Being then in the penitentiary under a sentence from one county and under indictment for another crime in another county, section 7234, Revised Statutes, would have been applicable, and under that section he could have been taken from the penitentiary to Cuyahoga county, and tried under the indictment pending against him there, and upon conviction he could have been sentenced to the penitentiary, and returned thereto under section 7238, Revised Stat[257]*257utes, to serve out the full term of both sentences. Sections 7234 and 7238, are as follows :

“7234. A convict in the penitentiary who escaped or forfeited his recognizance before receiving sentence for a felony of which he was convicted, or against whom an indictment for felony is pending, may be removed to the county in which such conviction was had, or such indictment is pending, for sentence or trial, upon the warrant of the court of such countjr; but this section shall not extend to the removal of a convict for life, except the sentence to be imposed, or the indictment pending against him, is for murder in the first degree. ’ ’
“7238. If such convict be acquitted, he shall be forthwith returned by the sheriff to the penitentiary, there to serve out the remainder of bis term; but if he be sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary, he shall forthwith be returned thereto by the sheriff, and his term of imprisonment thereon shall begin' to run from the expiration of the term for which he was imprisoned at his removal; or, if he be sentenced to death, such sentence shall be executed as if he were not under sentence of imprisonment in the penitentiary.”

These two sections clearly show the legislative intent, that convicts shall serve out one sentence for each offense of which they are convicted and sentenced. It is therefore clear, from these two sections, and the decisions of this court sustaining cumulative sentences, that the service under the Cuyahoga county sentence, could apply on that sentence only, and that after having- served out that sentence, he still remained an escaped convict under the Warren county sentence, subject to be held to serve out the remainder of that sentence.

[258]*258As he concealed his true name and identity, and was sentenced by the name of Scott, his term to begin in praesenH, the warden was bound to receive and treat him as designated in the record, and even had the warden recognized him at first sight, as being the escaped convict Henderson, he would have been powerless to treat him as such, so long as the sentence from Cuyahoga county remained in force and unsatisfied. Both the warden and the prisoner were conclusively bound by the ■record and sentence in that case.

While for many purposes there is nothing in a mere name, yet for many other purposes a name is Very important. The plea of abatement by reason of a wrong name, and the disclosure of a true name, is a very valuable protection to the prisoner, as in case of a second prosecution for the same crime, he can’ with more force invoke the record of the first case in support of his plea of former acquittal or conviction. Lasure v. State, 16 Ohio St., 51.

In Mead v.

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Related

Ex Parte Tom Tong
108 U.S. 556 (Supreme Court, 1883)
Prince v. State
44 Tex. 480 (Texas Supreme Court, 1876)
In re McCormick for a Habeas Corpus
24 Wis. 492 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1869)
Fitzpatrick v. People
98 Ill. 269 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1881)
Kennedy v. Howard
74 Ind. 87 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1881)
Mims v. State
5 N.W. 374 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1880)

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Bluebook (online)
52 Ohio St. (N.S.) 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-james-ohio-1895.