In re Howard

Citations

• 72 Kan. 273
• 83 P. 1032
• 1905 Kan. LEXIS 341

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Criminal Law — Judgment and Commitment Void for Uncertainty. A judgment and commitment to the penitentiary which recite only that the defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of grand larceny and that the court sentenced him “to confinement and hard labor in the state penitentiary of the state of Kansas until discharged therefrom by due course of law” are both void for uncertainty.</p> <p>2. -Indeterminate Sentence — Judgment of Imprisonment —Requisite. A judgment of imprisonment, to be valid, especially under the indeterminate-sentence law, must be so definite and certain in its terms that both the convict and the officer upon whom its execution devolves may know therefrom the term of imprisonment.</p> <p>3. -- Record of Conviction — Name and Degree of Crime. Under an indeterminate sentence the law and not the court determines the duration of punishment, and the record of a conviction and sentence should set forth fully the name and degree of the crime of which the conviction was had; and, if different penalties attach to different classes of the same degree of the crime, the record should also disclose the particular act or class of which conviction was had.</p> <p>4. -Indeterminate-sentence Law ■ — ■ Penalty — Mitigation. This law imposes the extreme penalty prescribed by the crimes act for each degree, act or class of crime, and makes provision for the mitigation of such penalty.</p>