Sentence (law)

“ As I understand the law, it is the duty of the court, unless application be made for a new trial, or a motion in arrest of judgment be made for some defect in the indictment, to pronounce judgment upon every prisoner convicted of crime by a jury, who pleads guilty. An indefinite suspension of the sentence prescribed by law is a quasi pardon, provided the prisoner be discharged from imprisonment. No court in the state has any pardoning power. ”

“ Doing a thing by law, or according to law, is only carrying the law into execution. And punishing a man by, or according to, the sentence or judgment of his peers, is only carrying that sentence or judgment into execution. ”

“ We cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us, for to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent. We may not acquit the guilty. What sentence the law affirms to a traitor, tyrant, a murderer, and a public enemy to the country, that sentence you are now to hear read unto you, and that is the sentence of the Court. ”

“ Prisoner at the bar, you have been accused of the great crime of labouring under pulmonary consumption, and after an impartial trial before a jury of your countrymen, you have been found guilty. Against the justice of the verdict I can say nothing: the evidence against you was conclusive, and it only remains for me to pass such a sentence upon you, as shall satisfy the ends of the law. ”

“ That the right to refuse to impose a sentence fixed by statute, or to refuse to execute such a sentence when imposed, is a discretion inhering in the judicial power to try and punish violations of the criminal law. 2. That even if there be doubt on this subject as an original proposition, such doubt is dispelled as the right was recognized and frequently exerted at common law. 3. That the power claimed has also been recognized by decisions of state courts and of United States courts of original jurisdiction to such an extent that the doctrine is now to be considered as not open to controversy. ”

“ Public justice must, therefore, be defeated, as all will agree, if the error cannot be corrected that the prisoner would be entitled to a discharge on habeas corpus, as every sentence in a criminal case is an entirety, so that if any part of it is unauthorized by law the whole sentence is illegal. ”

“ Errors even in the administration of criminal law will occur, and the ends of justice imperatively require that when they do occur there shall be some appropriate mode for their correction without discharging a prisoner legally convicted, as it cannot be admitted that an error of the court in passing the sentence of the law can have the effect to expiate the offence of the prisoner or to condone the criminal act of the offender. ”

“ Bad men, like good men, are entitled to be tried and sentenced in accordance with law, and when it is shown to us that a person is serving an illegal sentence our obligation is to direct that proper steps be taken to correct the wrong done, without regard to the character of a particular defendant or to the possible effect on others who might also want to challenge the legality of their sentences as they have the right to do 'at any time' under Rule 35. If it has any relevance at all, the fact that there may be other prisoners in this country's jails serving illegal sentences would seem to me to make it all the more imperative that we grant appropriate relief in this case rather than search for some obviously dubious excuse to deny this petitioner's claim. ”

“ If the opinion of the law officers appears to the Resident to be according to substantial justice, and is in accordance with his own opinion, the sentence is immediately carried into effect, provided the punishment does not extend to transportation or imprisonment for life. ”

“ If that opinion should be against the prisoner, the law is suffered to take its course, and the sentence which has been passed remains. If the opinion of the judges is in favour of the prisoner, the constant course is for the judge who tried the prisoner, and passed the sentence, to apply to the Secretary of State for a free pardon. ”

“ Let the criminal be throttled or beheaded in prison. His civil death has been pronounced publicly by the sentence of expulsion, and that sentence has killed him in the memory of all citizens. The citizens do not care what is done with the physical man after that sentence. ”

“ The power of a court under this section to pass sentence on an offender in a case where the passing of sentence has been deferred thereunder does not extend to committing him to another court for sentence but, subject to that, includes power to deal with him in any way in which the court which deferred passing sentence could have dealt with him.”. ”

“ For the purposes of any enactment conferring rights of appeal in criminal cases, the restoration by a court under section 47 (3) above of a part of a sentence held in suspense shall be treated as a sentence passed on the offender by that court for the original offence, that is to say the offence for which the original sentence was passed with an order under section 47 (1) above. ”

“ The five together, or, by an additional act, the majority of them, satisfactory evidence. of guilt appearing, were to sentence the culprit to death, or such lesser punishment as the offense might seem to deserve. In case of lesser punishment, "no particular law directing such punishment" was necessary. In case of death, "the kind of death" was left to "the judgment and discretion" of the court, execution to be forthwith done on their sole warrant, the owner to be indemnified at the public charge. ”

“ Rule 35 applies to any 'illegal sentence,' not to any illegal conviction, and thus by its terms the Rule protects only those rights which a defendant retains even if the judgment of guilt against him is proper. ”

“ An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime. ”

“ Those courts have expressed their belief that, even where the punishment imposed upon a defendant is entirely within the limits prescribed for the crime of which he was convicted, a sentence imposed in a prohibited manner-as, for example, a sentence imposed upon an absent defendant in violation of the command of Rule 43 that a defendant be present at sentencing [3] -is an 'illegal sentence' subject to correction under Rule 35. ”

“ Let me tell you, gentlemen of the jury, if you agree with his prosecutors in thinking that there ought to be a sacrifice of such a man, on such an occasion, and upon the credit of such evidence, you are to convict him—never did you, never can you give a sentence, consigning any man to public punishment with less danger to his person or to his fame ”

“ If the prisoner's guilt has been shown and proved beyond all reasonable doubt, you will convict him. If such reasonable doubts still remain, you will acquit him. You are the judges of the whole case. You owe a duty to the public as well as to the prisoner at the bar. You cannot presume to be wiser than the law. ”

“ The Pleas of the Crown are murder, robbery, rape, and wilful fire-raising. Those who have been convicted of crime as defined by the section quoted would properly be called criminals, but it is obvious that the name is applied and is applicable to many who do not fall under the definition. In practice the treatment of prisoners who have been convicted of offences is the same as that of those who have been convicted of crimes, when the sentence is one of imprisonment. ”

“ In no case is life imprisonment contemplated, but when a man is convicted on indictment of a crime and is sentenced to penal servitude, if the jury find that he is an habitual criminal the Court may pass a further sentence. ”

“ Yet the reader should not infer that definitions and grades of crime capable of corresponding punishments are not proper, desirable, and necessary. Of course they are. The practical use of such statutes is to fix a maximum sentence of punishment. As a rule the minimum is anything the judge sees fit. Hence you may deduce a general principle to the effect that the charge against the prisoner, even assuming his guilt, indicates nothing definite as to his moral turpitude, danger to the community, or general undesirability. ”

“ And if any person or persons to whom such writ of habeas corpus may be directed, shall refuse to obey the same, or shall neglect or refuse to make return, or shall make a false return thereto, in addition to the remedies already given by law, he or they shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be punished by fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and by imprisonment, not exceeding six months, or by either, according to the nature and aggravation of the case. ”

“ In cases of felony, manslaughter, robbery, murder, rape, piracy, and such capital crimes as are not reputed for treason or hurt of the estate, our sentence pronounced upon the offender is, to hang till he be dead. ”

“ Prisoners who misconduct themselves, are liable to be punished in a variety of ways;—by the infliction of corporal chastisement, by being sentenced to an irongang, to a penal settlement, or by an addition to their original sentence. A single magistrate cannot order a prisoner to receive more than fifty lashes ”

“ The accused person is arrested, his conduct laid open, and if he is found guilty of a first crime, he is warned to leave the country, and go farther from society, within an appointed time. Should the individual prove so callous as to disregard the sentence, and remain in the same neighborhood, to commit new crimes, then woe be to him; for the Regulators, after proving him guilty a second time, pass and execute a sentence which, if not enough to make him perish under the infliction, is 232 at least forever impressed upon his memory. ”

“ Given that the Defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty and is willing to accept punishments, truthfully confessed to his crime, and consents with the sentencing recommendation of the Prosecution, a lighter punishment can be given according to law. On sentencing, this Court has comprehensively considered the societal harm of the criminal conduct of the Defendant, his criminal record, and other circumstances of such. ”

“ As for convicted criminals, even they could feel no assurance of having to suffer only the statutory punishments, but according to the temper of the judge they had to undergo a penalty, and hands and feet were lopped off continually, with little or no regard to law or humanity. ”

“ There are various forms of the writ, of which the most famous is that known as habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, the well-established remedy for violation of personal liberty. From the earliest records of the English law no free man could be detained in custody except on a criminal charge or conviction or for a civil debt. ”

“ And the court accordingly, instead of ordering the prisoner to be discharged, according to the rule in force at the time the offense was committed, and even at the time of his trial and conviction, directed the record to be remitted to the court of oyer and terminer with instructions to sentence him to suffer death for the crime of which he had been convicted. ”

“ The jury fixed the punishment for each murder at life imprisonment. He was thereupon sentenced to prison for the period of his natural life by one judgment, construed by the Circuit Court of Appeals to impose that sentence on him for each of the convictions. ”

“ On substituting a finding of guilty of an offence, the Appeal Court shall have the like powers of sentencing the appellant, and other powers, as the court-martial which tried him would have had on the like finding of guilty; and section 17 of this Act shall apply as in the case of a sentence passed by the Court under section 13, 14 or 15 of this Act. ”

“ But the court said in that case that the conclusiveness of the sentence formed no part of the essence of the powers of the court. Its powers to act are as ample, independent of their final quality, as with it. ”

“ What I did say was that within that time courts would no longer pronounce definite sentence upon those found guilty of crime, but that the sentence or length of time during which a guilty man should be deprived of his liberty for the safety of the community would be determined by some competent board of men appointed for that purpose, with all the power and dignity of a court, who, after the fullest investigation, would determine where the person should be sent and for what length of time, subject to modification thereafter. ”

“ Whenever a person convicted of a crime, the punishment whereof is death, and such convicted person be sentenced to suffer the penalty of death, the judge passing such sentence shall appoint and designate in the warrant of conviction a week of time within which such sentence must be executed. ”

“ A court-martial may not impose separate sentences for each finding of guilt, but may impose only a single, unitary sentence covering all of the guilty findings in their entirety, no matter how many such findings there may be.↑ Carl De Coster, one of the codefendants with petitioner, was released on an order of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. ”

“ Notwithstanding anything in any enactment whereby power is conferred on a court, on a person’s conviction of an offence, to bind him over to keep the peace or be of good behaviour, that power may be exercised without sentencing the person convicted to a fine or to imprisonment. ”