Case Name: The People of the State of New York ex rel. Edward Gainance, Respondent, v. Lansing I. Platt, Sheriff, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1911-12-28
Citations: 148 A.D. 579
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York ex rel. Edward Gainance, Respondent, v. Lansing I. Platt, Sheriff, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 148
Pages: 579–581

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York ex rel. Edward Gainance, Respondent, v. Lansing I. Platt, Sheriff, Appellant.
Third Department,
December 28, 1911.
Habeas corpus — crime — petit larceny—provision in judgment for “ hard labor ” — Court of Special Sessions — first offense.
A judgment convicting a defendant of petit larceny not charged as a first offense is not illegal and excessive because it includes a provision that he be imprisoned “at hard labor.”
Such a provision does not increase the punishment or render the judgment void, nor can it be reviewed on habeas corpus, for section 171 of the Prison Law requires that so far as practical all prisoners, physically fit, in State prisons and reformatories be employed at hard labor eight hours a day.
One convicted of petit larceny before a city judge sitting as a Court of Special Sessions is not entitled to be discharged on habeas corpus because in the information the crime was not charged as a first offense. It is not essential to the jurisdiction of the court that either the information or the warrant should allege that the crime charged is a first offense.
Appeal by the defendant, Lansing I. Platt,'sheriff, from an order of the County Court of the county of Albany, made on the 6th day of September, 1911, discharging and releasing the relator from further confinement in the Albany County Penitentiary upon the return of a writ of habeas corpus.
The petition for the writ stated that the cause of the imprisonment was a commitment issued by George W. Stevens, city judge of the City of Eensselaer. A copy of the certificate of conviction was annexed to the petition) which shows that the relator was charged with petit larceny, and that he “ thereupon pleaded guilty, and having been thereupon tried .and upon such trial duly convicted, It is adjudged that said Edward Gainance be confined at the Albany County Penitentiary at hard labor, for the term of one hundred and eighty days.”
It appeared by the affidavit filed by the relator in support of the petition that the petit larceny was not charged as a first offense. The final order discharging the relator stated that it was made “on the grounds that said commitment was illegal and void.”
James R. Stevens, Jr., and Rollin B. Sanford, for the appellant.
John S. Wolfe, for the respondent.

Opinion:
Sewell, J.:
The theory of the county judge seems to have been that the judgment was illegal and excessive because it included the provision " at hard labor." Section 171 of the Prison Law (Consol. Laws, chap. 43; Laws of 1909, chap. 47) provides that ' ' the superinteiadent of State prisons, the superintendents, managers and officials of all reformatories and penitentiaries in the State, shall, so far as practicable, cause all the prisoners in said institutions, who are physically capable thereof, to be employed at hard labor, -for not to exceed eight hours of each day, other than Sundays and public holidays."
It is evident, therefore, that the provision in the judgment of conviction for hard labor did not increase the punishment and was not in excess of the jurisdiction or power of the court. That such a provision cannot render the judgment void or be reviewed on habeas corpus is too plain a proposition to admit of argument. It may also be observed that the conviction was valid and the relator was not entitled' to be discharged because in the information the crime of petit larceny was not charged as a first offense. It was held in People v. Cook (45 Hun, 34) that it was not essential to the jurisdiction of a court of Special Sessions in a case of petit larceny that the information or the warrant should allege that the crime charged is a first offense The same doctrine was asserted in People v. Johnston (112 App. Div. 812) where Mr. Justice Chester said: "If it be a first offense in fact, the court has jurisdiction to try the case, and it is to be deemed a first offense unless the contrary, is charged." It follows that the order discharging the relator should be reversed, the writ dismissed and the relator remanded to the sheriff of Albany county, and the judgment of conviction carried into effect.
All concurred, except Smith, P. J., not voting..
Order discharging relator reversed and writ dismissed, and relator remanded to custody of sheriff of Albany county that the judgment of conviction may be carried into effect.