Commonwealth v. Kalck

Citations

• 239 Pa. 533
• 87 A. 61
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 604

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Criminal law — Indeterminate sentence — • Acts of May 10,1909, P. L. 1(95, and June 19,1911, P. L. 1055.</p> <p>1. The indeterminate sentence Acts of May 10, 1909, P. L. 495, and June 19, 1911, P. L. 1055, are a valid exercise of legislative power and nothing contained therein is in contravention of any provisions of the Constitution.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder of the second degree — Sentence—Ex post facto law — Constitutional law. — Indeterminate sentence — Act of June 19,1911, P. L. 1055.</p> <p>2. The Act of June 19, 1911, P. L. 1055, as applied to a person who committed the crime of murder of the second degree prior to the passage of the act, hut who was not sentenced until after the passage of the act, is not an ex post facto law, inasmuch as the act did not aggravate the crime or make it greater; or change the rules of evidence; or prescribe less or different testimony in order to convict; or change the punishment; or inflict a greater punishment than that prescribed by the law annexed to the crime at the time it was commmitted.</p> <p>3. The Act of April 14, 1893, P. L. 17, fixed the maximum punishment for murder of the second degree at imprisonment for twenty years, and neither the Act of May 10, 1909, P. L. 495, nor June 19, 1911, P. L. 1055, repealed the Act of 1893; nor did they undertake to fix the punishment for any crime. They merely undertook to regulate the sentencing of convicts and the method of releasing them on parole.</p> <p>4. The provisions of the Act of June 19, 1911, P. L. 1055, were intended to benefit convicted persons and to mitigate the severity of their punishment as prescribed by law. Such an- act is not objectionable on the ground of being an ex post facto law, although passed after the crime was committed.</p> <p>5. The Act of June 19, 1911, P. L. 1055, does not require the imposition of a more severe minimum sentence for murder 'of the second degree than the Act of. May 10, 1909, P. L. 495, inasmuch as unde