State ex rel. Pearcy v. Criminal Court

257 Ind. 178, 1971 Ind. LEXIS 522
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1971
DocketNo. 971S276
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 257 Ind. 178 (State ex rel. Pearcy v. Criminal Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Pearcy v. Criminal Court, 257 Ind. 178, 1971 Ind. LEXIS 522 (Ind. 1971).

Opinion

Writ of Mandate

Comes now the Relator in the above-entitled cause and files his verified Petition For Writ Of Prohibition, which verified Petition is in the words and figures as follows to-wit: (H.I.) ; and the Relator further files and submits his certain Motion To Amend Petition For Writ Of Prohibition, asking that his said Petition be amended by interlineation so that the same be entitled and considered by this Court as a Petition For Alternative Writ of Mandate or Prohibition, which motion is in the words and figures as follows, to-wit: (H.I.) ; The motion to amend is granted.

And this cause having been set for hearing and determination by the Court on the 20th day of September, 1971, at 2:00 o’clock, P.M., with due notice given of the filing of said Petition and of the time and date of the said hearing thereon, and the Respondents having failed to appear are now defaulted.

And the Court having examined said verified Petition and being duly advised in the premises now finds that the Relator’s allegations that a great emergency exists for the granting of this Writ, that the granting of this Writ is a manifest necessity, and that said emergency and necessity exist throughout the State of Indiana, are true; and the Court further finds that an absolute writ of mandate rather than an alternative writ should issue.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED AND ADJUDGED BY THE COURT that the Respondent Criminal Court of Marion [180]*180County, Division One, and the Hon. John T. Davis, Judge of said Court, be and said Respondents are mandated as follows:

(1) The motion of the Defendant, Anthony David Newman, in Cause No. Cr 71-1063, to be sentenced in said cause pursuant to the certain provisions of Public Law No. 155, Acts of 1971, set out hereinbelow, shall be overruled by said Respondents, and the order of said Court dated September 8, 1971, granting said Motion, shall be vacated and set aside.

(2) The Respondents shall sentence the said defendant, Anthony David Newman, in said cause under and pursuant to the existing provisions of the statutes of the State of Indiana defining the crime with which he is charged and of which he has been found “guilty,” and prescribing the penalty therefor.

(3) The Respondents shall wholly disregard the following provisions of Public Law No. 155, Acts of 1971, to-wit:

“* * * The term of service and imprisonment of every convict shall commence from the day of his conviction and sentence. Provided, however, that the sentencing court, in the case of conviction for any felony or misdemeanor; shall order that the convicted person be credited with all of his actual time spent in imprisonment prior to trial. Such order shall specify that such convicted person shall be credited with statutory good time diminution of his sentence for time so served prior to imprisonment.”

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that this WRIT of Mandate be and the same hereby is made and declared absolute;

AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Clerk of this Court is ordered to send at this time a copy of this Writ to the Respondents, to the attorney for said Defendants in Cause No. Cr 71-1063, to West Publishing Company and the Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., for publication, to the Reporter of the Supreme and Appellate Courts of Indiana for publication in the next volume of Indiana Reports, to the Prosecuting Attorney of each Judicial Circuit in the State of [181]*181Indiana, and to the Judge of each court in the State of Indiana exercising criminal jurisdiction. An opinion will follow.

Dated this 21st day of September, 1971.

Norman F. Arterburn

Chief Justice

Opinion on Writ of Mandate

Hunter, J.

On May 11, 1971, there was filed in the Marion Criminal Court, Division One, an affidavit charging one Anthony David Newman with commission of the crime of First Degree Burglary, which affidavit was docketed in said Court as Cause No. CR 71-1063.

Said defendant, having on May 26, 1971, waived arraignment and entered his plea of Not Guilty to said charge, was on September 2, 1971, tried on said charge by the Honorable John T. Davis, Judge of the Marion Criminal Court, who found said defendant guilty of First Degree Burglary as charged.

On September 8, 1971, said defendant filed with said Court his “Motion to Sentence Under Acts of 1971,” requesting that said Court sentence said defendant under the terms of Public Law No. 155 and give the defendant credit against any sentence imposed in said cause for:

(a) All time served by the defendant in the Marion County Jail from the date of his arrest on said charge of First Degree Burglary to the date of his conviction as aforesaid;
(b) All time spent out of prison on appeal bond in the event the defendant chose to appeal his said conviction to this Court;
(c) All time spent out of prison under any suspended sentence prior to any revocation of such suspension of sentence;
(d) All time spent in detention or confinement commencing with defendant’s first juvenile arrest;
(e) All time spent out of prison since 11-5-70 on a suspended sentence for the Crime of Robbery in Cause No. CR 70-0999 in the Respondent Court;

[182]*182Also, on September 8, 1971, the Prosecutor of Marion County filed his “Response and Objection in Two Paragraphs to Defendant’s Motion to Sentence Under Acts of 1971,” alleging that Public Law 155 is unconstitutional, in part. Moreover, on September 8, 1971, Honorable John T. Davis, Judge of Marion Criminal Court, granted the defendant’s said Motion and overruled the Prosecutor’s objection.

The Prosecuting Attorney of Marion County has now filed in this Court a Petition for Writ of Mandate and served copies of the same upon Honorable John T. Davis, Judge, the Attorney General of the State of Indiana and upon the Attorney for Anthony David Newman.

Under ordinary circumstances, any action to determine the constitutionality of an Act of the General Assembly would normally come before this Court as the subject matter of an appeal, rather than as an original action as filed herein. However, the circumstances here are anything but ordinary — the possible effects of the application of the questioned Act (Public Law No. 155) having a profound immediate effect upon the administration of justice contrary to the interest of the public. Thus, because of such extreme emergency and state-wide import of this problem, jurisdiction has been accepted by this Court for the consideration of the issuance of the Writ of Mandate. See, State ex rel. Standard Oil Co., v. Review Board of Indiana Employment Security Division (1951), 230 Ind. 1, 101 N. E. 2d 60; State ex rel. Beaman v. Circuit Court of Pike County (1951), 229 Ind. 190, 96 N. E. 2d 671.

On September 20, 1971, this mandate action was heard before this Court, said Respondent Judge, said Attorney General and the Attorney for said Anthony David Newman not appearing therein. Notice of Hearing and proof of Service thereof were duly filed by the relator.

It is the contention of the Prosecutor of Marion County that Public Law No. 155 of the Acts of 1971 is unconstitu[183]*183tional, as being violative of Art. 4, See.

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Bluebook (online)
257 Ind. 178, 1971 Ind. LEXIS 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-pearcy-v-criminal-court-ind-1971.