The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-06-09

NlCItu VI CLluc ultdu, IL NllkS ulCdl (
anything, may be convicted of crime
from and after the date of the passage
of that act. There is some dispute as
to what is meant by conviction, but
Bowler and Abbott hold that sentence
is necessary to conviction. All the
forms of the trial were concluded in
his case on the Goth of May. 1880. The
sentence took effect from and after that
date. The power of the court ended
with that sentence, certainly ended
with that term of this court. The
party is or should be at Laramie City
serving the term of his Imprisonment.
Congress has not attempted to pass any
act to remove him. The legislature de-
rives all its power from that act of June
l6, 1880, which has given this territory
no such power-either to the legislature
or to the courts. In this connection.
and as bearing upon the question, 1t
should be remembered that persons con
victed and sentenced to the United
States ~penitentiary at or near Laramie
City were received there, subsisted
there, and employed there in pursuance
of that sentence, during the term of
their Imprisonment. These are the ex-
act words of section 1895. That sec
ton WAS not repealed by the act of June
~. loOO,dS 70 parties lutI SelItuCtu- III
pursuance of the section 1895 of the re-
vised statutes the prisoner has been sem
fenced to the territorial ~penitentiary at
or near Laramie City. To be kept IN Il
penitentiary of the territory it must be
in the one at or neal Laramie City and
during the term Of his Imprisonment.
The act of congress passed March 3,
1915, provides that all persons who
have beer or shall be convicted of any
offense against the laws of the United
States shall have a deduction from their
several terms of sentence for five days
in each month. That act applies to
United States prisoners. Section 1899
prescrihes that the attorney general
may prescribe needful rules and regu-
lations for the penitentiary at or near
Laramie City, and the marshal is di-
Tected to have them executed and
obeyed. This applies, in the opinion of
the court, to all prisoners who are SEN
fenced there; for sections 1893 and 1895
are to be read together and construed
together. If there is a regulation al
lowing a territorial convict who was
sentenced there prior to the act of June
l6, 1880, a deduction during which no
charge of misconduct shall be COM
planned against him, then it seems to
the court that the convict would be en-
titled to that deduction. But be this as
it may, Charles Williams was sentenced
to the penitentiary at or e Laramie
City in pursuance of section 1895 of the
revised statutes and of the decision
constituting hat section and section 1893
by the supreme court of this territory.
He has been received there, he has been
subsisted there. Doubtless he has been
l N RNH1Aual Tl.nra - ,1a-A ~F Nhn
statute is good, the whole of it is good;
and the supreme court of this territory
has affirmed that it is. If so he must
be subsisted and employed there during
the term of his imprisonment, as fixed
by the sentence of this court of May
%, 1880. This is not disturbed by the
section of the act grated on the appro-
priation bill of June 16, 1880; but that
act provides, as the court has attempted
to show, for those who may be convicted
at or after the time that act took effect.
The legislative enactments, as the court
has said, which are legaliZed are those
which have already passed, providing
for making contracts for the care and
custody of such convicts from and after
the date of passage, and not prior to
that time. For these reasons the court
holds that it has no power to resentence;
thai an attempt to resentence in this
ease would be to interfere with the jul
dicial act already lone and which could
only be interfered with on writ of error;
that an attempt to resentence now, in
the judgment of this court, would be to
do such a void act and to enter such an
order as would, upon a writ of habeas
corpus in any other jurisdiction, and
indeed in this, objection having been
made to a resentence, might entitle this
party to his liberty This the court is
unwilling to do; and this the court has
no authority in law to do, in this case,
over the personal objection. The mo-
tion is accordingly denied; and q like
order will be for the same reasons de-
MED on the motion to resentence Moses
Reader and R. X. Paine, who were SEN
fenced respectively on the 2Sth and goth
of May, 1880; the first for four and the
last for ten years, the one for burglary
and the other for assault with an at
tempt to commit rape.
After the decision of the court, the
counsel for the defendants prepared Pc
titions for writs of habeas corpus and
sought to have them sworn to by the
defendants, but, before admission could
be gained TO the Jail, somebody got
away" with the prisoners, and they
were taken back to Laramie City by
some secret means. Why this plan was
adopted and carried out 1t is not known.
But, it was a very queer piece Of bust
ness, because writs of habeas corpus can
reach men in the p~enitentiary as well as
in the county Jail. These writs will be
applied for, and, when granted, will
simply cause the return of the men to
Cheyenne for hearing on the real merits
of the question of their imprisonment.
So far as appears, the only thing gained
by spiriting the men away by the back
door is delay, and in this case delay
does not seem to be dangerous.
ala L., Aaa