Commonwealth v. Francies

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 285
• 1919 Pa. Super. LEXIS 227

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Sentence—False pretense — Discharge on habeas corpus.</p> <p>Where a prisoner, charged with the offense of false pretense, has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary and has served more than two years of his sentence he is entitled to a discharge from further imprisonment, under the commitment, on habeas corpus proceedings in the Superior Court. In such case the sentence should have been to the county jail and not to the penitentiary.</p> <p>Criminal law — Prisoner erroneously sentenced — Escape—Indictment for fail breahing — Validity of commitment.</p> <p>Although he may have been erroneously committed to a jail or penitentiary, a prisoner cannot raise the question as to the regularity of his sentence by escaping from the place of his confinement. Such escape is a substantive offense, and the punishment thereof is not merely incidental to the punishment for the offense for which the prisoner may have been committed.</p> <p>Defendants in criminal cases are entitled to an appeal in every case in which there has been error in a sentence to imprisonment. Under such circumstances an appeal should be taken to contest the validity of the commitment, and the prisoner in breaking jail committed a new offense, and on conviction thereof was properly remanded to the custody of the warden of the penitentiary.</p>