Case Name: Commonwealth versus Keniston
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1827-10
Citations: 5 Pick. 420
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth versus Keniston.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 22
Pages: 420–420

Head Matter:
Commonwealth versus Keniston.
Keniston was sentenced on the 6th of October, 1825, to solitary confinement for ten days and hard labor for two years, in the state prison, and was on the same day removed to the prison. On the first day of this term, which was the 16th of October, (Keniston being still detained in the prison,) the solicitor-general filed an information, stating a former con viction and sentence to hard labor for another offence, and praying that an additional punishment might be awarded, pursuant to Si. 1817, c. 176.
S. D. Parker, for the prisoner.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
We think the information should be filed before the prisoner's term of punishment has expired. The day of the commitment is to be reckoned as part of the term, for as the liberty of the subject is concerned, the statute ought to receive a construction favorable to the prisoner. It follows that this information was filed too late, and that the prisoner is entitled to be discharged.