State Ex Rel. Stout v. Rigg

90 N.W.2d 910, 252 Minn. 503, 1958 Minn. LEXIS 637
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 6, 1958
Docket37,409
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 90 N.W.2d 910 (State Ex Rel. Stout v. Rigg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Stout v. Rigg, 90 N.W.2d 910, 252 Minn. 503, 1958 Minn. LEXIS 637 (Mich. 1958).

Opinion

Thomas Gallagher, Justice.

Relator petitioned the District Court of Washington County June 1, 1957, for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was unlawfully confined in the state prison at Stillwater, of which respondent is warden. On June 13, 1957, that court made its order directing respondent to appear before it with relator-on July 8, 1957, and show cause why the writ should not be issued.

On June 28, 1957, pursuant to such order, respondent made and filed his return in said court and caused a copy of it to be served upon relator. On July 8, 1957, he appeared with relator and hearing was then held on relator’s petition. Written and oral arguments were submitted by the parties, including relator pro se. On July 23, 1957, the court entered its order discharging the order to show cause and denying the petition for writ of habeas corpus. Relator takes this appeal from such order.

A certified copy of various documents of the District Court of Ramsey County, which formed the judgment roll in the original pro *505 ceedings against relator, was attached to and made a part of respondent’s return. A transcript of the minutes of conviction and sentence indicated that, on October 9, 1950, relator appeared before the Honorable Robert V. Rensch, Judge of the District Court of Ramsey County, to answer informations charging him with the crime of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a felony; that at that time the county attorney appeared on behalf of the state and George C. King, public defender, appeared on behalf of relator; and that in open court relator pleaded guilty to the charges described.

Besides the transcript, the judgment roll included (1) the information dated June 19, 1950, charging relator with the crime of kidnapping; (2) a second information dated October 9, 1950, charging relator with a conviction for robbery in the State of Iowa on November 23, 1938; and (3) the judgment of guilt and sentence in connection therewith. The return also included a certified copy of the warrant of commitment to the warden of the state prison at Stillwater pursuant to the sentence described. The transcript of sentence dated October 9, 1950, set forth the following:

“It is considered and adjudged that you, Carl E. Stout, are guilty of the offense of kidnapping * * * and that you are the identical Carl E. Stout who on the 23rd day of November, 1938, in the District Court of Polk County, State of Iowa, were convicted of robbery and sentenced therefor to serve a term in the penitentiary located at Ft. Madison, Iowa, and that that crime is a felony under the laws of the State of Iowa and if committed in the State of Minnesota would have been a felony under the laws of the State of Minnesota * * * and that as punishment therefor you be taken by the sheriff of this county to the State Penitentiary * * * and there confined and committed according to law. It is further ordered that in no event shall the maximum term of this sentence exceed fifty years.”

The transcript of the minutes further disclosed that, on October 9, 1950, following relator’s plea of guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit a felony, the court disposed of such plea by sentencing relator therefor to a term of 90 days in the Ramsey County jail and immediately thereafter suspending such sentence.

*506 In his petition for writ of habeas corpus, relator contended that he was not committed to prison by virtue of any judgment of any competent tribunal. The judgment roll disclosed no basis for this contention. It definitely established that relator was sentenced by the District Court of Ramsey County for the crime of kidnapping to which he had entered a plea of guilty and that he had been lawfully imprisoned therefor.

At the hearing, however, relator took the additional positions that (1) his pleas of guilty to the charge of kidnapping and to the charge of conspiracy to commit a felony were void, since they embraced two different offenses, the former a felony, and the latter a misdemeanor over which the district court lacked jurisdiction; (2) that his sentence was invalid in that it did not have the signature of the judge who sentenced him; (3) that he had been pardoned for his Iowa conviction by virtue of his service in the United States Army and the 1945 presidential proclamation of amnesty for persons serving in and honorably discharged from the armed forces, so that such prior conviction should not have formed any basis for his sentence; and (4) that, since the court had not complied with the provisions of M. S. A. 610.31 by reading the information charging him with the Iowa offense and advising him of his right to be tried as to the truth thereof, the additional penalty imposed upon him therefor under § 610.28 was invalid.

The record is ample to support the trial court’s finding that relator is not unlawfully imprisoned. It discloses his plea of guilty to the crime of kidnapping and his sentence and valid commitment therefor in the state prison at Stillwater. While his plea of guilty to the crime of kidnapping was accompanied by a similar plea to another information charging him with conspiracy to commit a felony, the transcript discloses that his present imprisonment does not involve anything in connection with the latter charge. The crime of kidnapping calls for a maximum sentence of 40 years. § 619.34. At present relator has served less than 8 years of his sentence. It follows that, regardless of the validity of his suspended sentence for conspiracy to commit a felony, he is not now unlawfully imprisoned, and the trial court did not err in denying his petition for writ of habeas corpus. See, State ex rel. Perkins v. Utecht, 231 Minn. 339, 43 N. W. (2d) 258; State ex rel. Hansen v. Utecht, 230 Minn. 579, 40 N. W. (2d) 441; State ex rel. Carmody v. *507 Reed, 132 Minn. 295, 156 N. W. 127.

Nor would the fact that the transcript of the sentence failed to include the signature of the judge sentencing relator affect the validity of such sentence. As stated in State v. Gieseke, 125 Minn. 497, 498, 147 N. W. 663, 664:

“* * * Unlike the procedure in civil cases, the statute contemplates that in criminal cases the judgment shall be pronounced in open court, and the entry thereof be made by the clerk in the minutes.”

See, State ex rel. Dressler v. Rigg, 252 Minn. 239, 89 N. W. (2d) 699; State v. Grimes, 83 Minn. 460, 86 N. W. 449; § 631.40.

Relator asserts that the court was without jurisdiction to impose an added sentence because of his former conviction for robbery in the State of Iowa, contending that the 1945 presidential proclamation of amnesty, 1 which extended pardons to honorably discharged veterans serving in the armed forces in excess of 1 year for convictions prior to July 29, 1941, wiped out his previous sentence and deprived the court of the right to impose the additional penalty provided by § 610.28. The latter provides that a person convicted of a prior felony shall be sentenced for the second conviction for not less than twice the shortest term otherwise provided therefor. Thereunder, it is the fact of the prior conviction which gives the court jurisdiction to impose the additional sentence and accordingly a subsequent pardon therefor would not deprive the court of authority vested in it under this section.

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139 N.W.2d 161 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1965)
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112 N.W.2d 54 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1961)
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111 N.W.2d 517 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
90 N.W.2d 910, 252 Minn. 503, 1958 Minn. LEXIS 637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-stout-v-rigg-minn-1958.