In Re Jennings

267 P. 227, 46 Idaho 142, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 86
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 24, 1928
DocketNo. 5195.
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 267 P. 227 (In Re Jennings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Jennings, 267 P. 227, 46 Idaho 142, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 86 (Idaho 1928).

Opinions

GIVENS, J.

The petitioner was convicted of a violation of the prohibition laws in the probate court of Jerome county and the following judgment was rendered:

“It is therefore ordered by me that the defendant shall pay a fine of $200 together with the costs of this case in the amount of $5.40 and be committed to the county jail of Jerome County, Idaho, for a period of 90 days, said jail sentence to be suspended when the aforesaid fine and costs are paid.
“Provided, however, that the said suspension of jail sentence be in the nature of a parole to the sheriff of *145 Jerome County, Idaho, and if the said sheriff shall, at any time, have reason to believe that the said defendant, H. C. Jennings, is violating the prohibition law, and so reports to this court, it shall be deemed a violation of this judgment and the said jail sentence shall immediately take effect. ’ ’

This was dated April 21, 1927. The next day the court added the following to the docket under the head of “Note”:

“April 22, 1927, the defendant, H. C. Jennings, is hereby paroled until. November 1, 1927, upon the condition that he give a note for $205.40, being the amount of said fine and costs; the said note to be secured by a chattel mortgage on the crops growing or about to be grown on the lands farmed by the said H. C. Jennings.
“The receipt of said note and mortgage is hereby acknowledged.
“W. B. SUMMER, Probate Judge.”

Evidently the note was not paid and on January 13, 1928, petitioner obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining the treasurer of Jerome county from enforcing the chattel mortgage. On the following day the judge of the probate court issued a commitment directing the sheriff to confine the petitioner in the county jail of Jerome county in accordance with the judgment quoted above, and at the same time issued a writ of execution against petitioner’s property. Petitioner was taken into custody forthwith and has ever since been detained.

An application for a writ of habeas corpus was denied by the district court of Jerome county and this proceeding is an appeal from that order denying the writ.

It is urged that that order is not such a “final judgment” as may be appealed under C. S., see. 7152. In Winnovich v. Emery, 33 Utah, 345, 93 Pac. 988, 991, a well-considered case, this contention was urged and the court said:

“The test of finality for the purpose of an appeal, therefore, is not necessarily whether the whole matter involved *146 in the action is concluded, but whether the particular proceeding or action is terminated by the judgment.”

We conclude that this court has appellate jurisdiction in habeas corpus proceedings brought originally in the district court. (Martin v. District Court, 37 Colo. 110, 119 Am. St. 262, 86 Pac. 82; Ex parte Petitt, 84 Kan. 637, 114 Pac. 1071; In re Hicks, 20 Mich. 129; State v. Superior Court, 99 Wash. 619, 170 Pac. 130, L. R. A. 1918C, 921; see, also, 29 C. J. 183.) This, of course, does not conflict with nor deprive the court of its original jurisdiction granted by the constitution.

Appellant contends that the judgment of the probate court is void. Eespondent concedes that that portion of the judgment wherein the court attempted to exercise the power of parole is an absolute nullity.

The court had complete jurisdiction to impose the fine and imprisonment and that part of the sentence was therefore valid. It is a general rule that where a sentence consists of a void portion and a valid portion, which are severable, the courts will give effect to the valid portion. (Ex parte Bottjer, 45 Ida. 168, 260 Pac. 1095; Ex parte Erickson, 44 Ida. 713, 260 Pac. 160; In the Matter of Setters, 23 Ida. 270, 128 Pac. 1111; In re Chase, 18 Ida. 561, 110 Pac. 1036.)

An order suspending sentence without authority, made part of a judgment or attached to it, is surplusage and will be disregarded. (Morgan v. Adams, 226 Fed. 719 ; State v. Drew, 75 N. H. 402, 74 Atl. 875; State v. Abbott, 87 S. C. 466, Ann. Cas. 1912B, 1189, 70 S. E. 6, 33 L. R. A., N. S., 112; Reese v. Olsen, 44 Utah, 318; 139 Pac. 941.)

The remaining question is whether the probate judge had the power to require the execution of the original judgment, in so far as it was valid, long after the judgment was rendered and after the time when the term of imprisonment specified in the judgment had expired.

There is a conflict of authority but a consideration of the cases leads us to believe that by the great weight of authority, where the court makes an unauthorized order *147 suspending the execution of the sentence imposed by the judgment, such order does not prevent the subsequent enforcement of the valid portion of the sentence at a later date.

Some of the courts which oppose this view take the position that the sentence begins to run as soon as it is imposed and ends when the time of imprisonment mentioned therein has expired. (Corporate Authorities of Scottsboro v. Johnston, 121 Ala. 397, 25 So. 809; In re Markuson, 5 N. D. 180, 64 N. W. 939; In re Webb, 89 Wis. 354, 46 Am. St. 846, 62 N. W. 177, 27 L. R. A. 356.)

It is held by other courts that jurisdiction is lost where the prisoner is permitted to go free after sentence, and that thereafter the court has no power to issue a commitment. (U nited States v. Wilson, 46 Fed. 748; Tuttle v. Lang, 100 Me. 123, 60 Atl. 892; Ex parte Clendenning, 22 Okl. 108, 132 Am. St. 628, 97 Pac. 650; 19 L. R. A., N. S., 1041.)

One of the best considered cases upholding the right of a court to issue a commitment on a judgment rendered some time before is State v. Abbott, supra. The facts in that case were very similar to those in the case at bar. Eeplying to the objections indicated above, urged by those courts opposing this view, the court said:

“The reasoning of the cases first cited we think sophistical because it rests upon the false assumption that a sentence necessarily begins to run and to be satisfied the moment it is pronounced. The execution of a sentence may be postponed by appeal, by escape, and by other causes; but the time of delay in the execution is not counted as part of the time of imprisonment fixed by the sentence. No more can the delay due to the release of the convict under a void order of the court attempting to suspend the sentence be so counted. The sentence is satisfied, not by the lapse of time after it is pronounced, but by the actual suffering of the imprisonment imposed by it. The rule is that jurisdiction remains in a court to enforce its valid judgments according to law against those who are parties *148 to them ....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 P. 227, 46 Idaho 142, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jennings-idaho-1928.