Case Name: STATE v. SMITH
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1907-01-07
Citations: 118 La. 248
Docket Number: No. 16,355
Parties: STATE v. SMITH.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 118
Pages: 247–251

Head Matter:
(42 South. 791.)
No. 16,355.
STATE v. SMITH.
(Jan. 7, 1907.)
On Motion to Dismiss.
1. Criminal Law — Appeal—Excessive Sentence — Setting Aside.
The sentence was for a larger amount than authorized by the statute.
The Supreme Court had jurisdiction on appeal to set it aside.
[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 15, Criminal Law, §§ 3195-3197.]
On the Merits.
2. Weapons — Carrying Concealed Weapons —Statute—Repeal.
Act No. 43, p. 58, of 1906, which denounces the carrying of concealed weapons about one’s person, and which prescribes penalties therefor, repeals Act No. 61, p. 86, of 1902, section 932 of the Revised Statutes, and section 9, Act No. 107, p. 163, of 1902, in so far as inconsistent and irreconcilable therewith.
3. Same — Definition—Pending Indictments.
The definition in the last statute applies generally to the act of carrying concealed weapons, and excludes by its terms all other similar definitions.
There was no clause inserted in the last statute regarding indictments pending in court. The result is that the indictment for a similar offense under a prior statute falls.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Appeal from Twenty-Fifth Judicial District Court, Parish of St. Helena; Clay Elliott, Judge.
George Smith was convicted of carrying concealed weapons, and appeals.
Reversed.
Milton Alexander Strickland, for appellant. Walter Guión, Atty. Gen., and Robert Stephen Ellis, Dist. Atty. (Lewis Guión, of counsel), for the State.

Opinion:
BREAUX, C. J.
An indictment was found by the grand jury against the defendant, charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon concealed on or about his person at church, where there was an assembly of the people.
The indictment was presented to the court and filed October 1, 1906. In it, it was al leged that the offense was committed on June. :3, 1906. The last law upon the subject of •concealed weapons is dated June 29, 1906.
Defendant pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to imprisonment for three months and to pay a fine of $301 and cost of the prosecution, and in default of payment of the fine to remain in the parish prison an additional three months.
Motion to Dismiss.
The state, through the Attorney General, moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the court is without jurisdiction; that, .as the penalty was over and above that fixed by the statute, it did not fall within the appellate jurisdiction of this court.
We do not find it possible to agree with that view. The sentence gives rise to a •question of law which can be determined on .appeal.
The illegal sentence can be annulled.
If a sentence of $301 be imposed, although the maximum penalty is $300, the court has jurisdiction to determine that the sentence is illegal.