State v. Jackson

489 P.2d 8, 107 Ariz. 371, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 317
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1971
DocketNo. 2161
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 489 P.2d 8 (State v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jackson, 489 P.2d 8, 107 Ariz. 371, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 317 (Ark. 1971).

Opinion

UDALL, Justice:

The facts pertaining to this case are, briefly, as follows:

The defendant, with a co-defendant, was originally convicted on March 31st, 1962, for first degree murder and robbery, and the jury fixed the punishment at death.

On April 9, 1962, the Court sentenced the defendant to death on the murder conviction and he was not given a sentence on the robbery conviction. On appeal to this Court, the conviction and sentence were affirmed. State v. Goodyear, 98 Ariz. 304, 404 P.2d 397 (1965). Thereafter, the defendant moved for a rehearing, which was granted, and the initial conviction was reversed by this Court and the case was remanded for a new trial. State v. Goodyear, 100 Ariz. 244, 413 P.2d 566 (1966).

Upon remand, the defendant pled guilty to second degree murder and robbery, and was sentenced for second degree murder to a term of not less than twenty-five years nor more than life, to date from May 7th, 1966 the date of the sentencing. On the robbery conviction the defendant was given a suspended sentence for a period of five years on the condition that he conduct himself as a law-abiding citizen.

On February 2, 1968, the trial court held a hearing on a motion by the defendant and his co-defendant for an order nunc pro tunc, to amend the commencement date of the second degree murder sentence in order to give him credit for the time spent in prison after the death sentence was imposed. The motion was denied. Later, the defendant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to this Court requesting credit on his sentence for second degree murder. The petition was denied on November 18, 1969. Thereafter the defendant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, and on February 13th the Honorable C. A. Muecke, District Court Judge, entered an order directing that the defendant be granted a writ of habeas corpus unless the State, within sixty days of that order, resentenced appellant in accordance with Simpson v. Rice, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969).

The Attorney General of Arizona then petitioned this Court to remand the case to the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County, in order that the defendant could be resentenced in accordance with the order of the United States District Court. The petition was granted and the case was remanded to the trial court. On April 6, 1970 the defendant was resentenced by the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County for the crime of second degree murder, for a term of not less than 29 years nor more than life, to date from April 9th, 1962.

The trial court further made an order revoking the defendant’s suspended robbery sentence and imposed a sentence for robbery of not less than four years and one month, and not more than four years and one month and one day, to date from April 1st, 1962. Thereafter, the defendant filed a motion for release in the United States District Court, alleging that the trial court had not complied with the order from the Federal Court to resentence the defendant for second degree murder in accordance with Simpson v. Rice, supra.

[373]*373The United States District Court, on June 22nd, 1970, denied the motion and made an order vacating its previous order of February 13, 1970, on the grounds that the 1968 minute entry of the nunc pro tunc hearing had not been brought to the attention of the District Court. That entry indicated that Judge Farley of the trial court, in imposing the 25-year sentence in 1966, had, in fact, taken into account the time appellant had spent on death row, under the first degree murder conviction. From Judge Mueckc's order, the defendant did not move for a rehearing of the vacation of his order, nor was an appeal taken therefrom.

The questions presented on appeal are:

I Did the appellant receive credit on his sentence for second degree murder —for the four years and one month he served under his previously invalidated conviction for the same act ? and

II Was the revocation of the appellant’s suspended sentence for robbery improper retaliatory action in contravention of existing constitutional principles?

It is the contention of the defendant that when the final sentence was imposed upon him on April 6, 1970, he did not receive credit for the four years and one month he had served under his first sentence which was imposed on April 9, 1962. We do not agree with this conclusion.

It appears in the record that when the first sentence for second degree murder was imposed on May 7, 1966, the Court announced from the bench that:

“Whereas the Court — in passing sentence —took into account the time spent in prison by the defendant, pending his appeal in the first case.”

The United States District Court verified this assertion by the trial court on June 22nd, 1970, when it denied the motion made by the defendant to be released on the grounds that the trial court had not complied with the terms of Simpson v. Rice, supra. The United States District Court vacated its previous order of February 13, 1970, on the grounds that it had not been brought to its attention that the trial court, in imposing sentence, had taken into consideration the time that appellant had spent on death row under the first degree murder conviction.

When the case was again remanded to the Superior Court, by this Court, for re-sentencing, the Court again asserted in open court

“that at the time I imposed sentence on Mr. Jackson, I took into account the fact that he had been waiting the death penalty over four years.”

An analysis of the facts clearly shows that the sentence given on May 7, 1966, for second degree murder, which was later invalidated and the resentence imposed on April 6, 1970, were entirely consistent. In the 1966 sentence the court imposed a minimum sentence of twenty-five years — to begin on May 7, 1966: If the full minimum sentence had been served in the penitentiary it would have expired on May 7, 1991. In the resentencing imposed on April 6, 1970, the defendant was given a sentence of 29 years to date from April 9, 1962. If he had served out the full minimum term of 29 years, he would have been released from prison on April 9, 1999. In other words, the sentence imposed in 1970 — had it been served — was 28 days shorter than the sentence given in 1966 — had it been served.

It is, therefore, clear that the court not only took into consideration the time spent by the defendant in the penitentiary under his first sentence, but that he did not increase the length of the first sentence given on May 7th, 1966 for second degree murder.

Defendant contends the trial court’s act was in violation of North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). In that case, respondent Pearce was convicted of assault with the intent to commit rape and the trial court sentenced him to. prison for a term of 12 to 15 years. Upon reversal, he was retried, convicted and sentenced to an eight year [374]*374prison term.

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Related

State v. Risher
574 P.2d 460 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1977)
State v. Madrid
510 P.2d 50 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
489 P.2d 8, 107 Ariz. 371, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jackson-ariz-1971.