Court Opinion

ID: 9744820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:17:33.351401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:42.959090
License: Public Domain

*146Dissenting Opinion
Arterburn, J.
I find I must dissent to the reversal of the conviction of the appellant on the habitual criminal charge (Count Two).
The Habitual Criminal Act in part provides:
“To authorize a sentence of imprisonment for life under this act, the indictment or affidavit shall allege that the defendant has been previously twice convicted, sentenced and imprisoned in some penal institution for felonies, describing each separately. If the trial jury, in their verdict, find these facts to be true, and convict such defendant of the third felony, the trial court, after passing sentence of imprisonment for a specific term, as prescribed by the statute, shall proceed to sentence the defendant to imprisonment for his or her life.” (Our italics) Acts 1907, Ch. 82, § 2, p. 109, being Burns’ Ind. Stat. Anno. § 9-2208 (1956 Repl.)
In the case before us, one of the prior convictions of the appellant was for petit larceny, for which he was sentenced to the Indiana State Farm. It is conceded by the appellant (and the majority opinion so holds) that a conviction of petit larceny is a “felony,” since under the statute any offense for which a person may be punished by death or imprisonment in the state prison is classified as a “felony.” Acts 1905, ch. 169, § 1, p. 584, being Burns’ Ind. Stat. Anno. §9-101 (1956 Repl.)
The statute in force at the time of conviction provided that a person convicted of petit larceny may be imprisoned at the state farm. However, this does not change the character of the crime from that of a felony. In re Sobieski (1965), 246 Ind. 222, 204 N. E. 2d 353.
It seems to me, therefore, in conformity with the statute defining an habitual criminal, that this defendant was convicted of a felony when he was convicted of petit larceny, and that (as the statute-provides) he was sentenced to a “penal” institution, which was the Indiana State Farm. The Indiana State Farm is a penal institution, as that term is used in *147common language. • Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines “penal” as “of or relating to punishment, penalty, . . .” That fits the Indiana State Farm as well as any other penal institution in the State. I feel that the majority opinion goes into a refinement of semantics over whether or not the State Farm is a “penal institution.” The majority opinion tries to make a distinction between a penal institution and a correctional institution, when the terms are used interchangeably in all the statutes.
• I further point out that the legislature has made no distinction between penal institutions and correctional institutions, as the majority opinion attempts to make. The 1953 Acts, ch. 266, p. 944 provide for the government and supervision of the Indiana State Prison, Indiana Reformatory, Indiana Women’s Prison, Indiana Boys’ School, Indiana Girls’ School and the Indiana State Farm, alike, without any distinction as to names.
The title of the Act reads:
“AN ACT creating a Department of Correction and prescribing the powers and duties thereof; creating offices, boards and commissions; providing thereby for the management of state correctional institutions and for the custody and control of persons committed thereto;. ..” (Our italics)
Although Chapter 266 of the Acts of 1953 was repealed by the Acts of 1961, ch. 343 which, in short, provides for a Commissioner of the Department of Correction, the title to the 1961 Act likewise referred solely to “correctional institutions and the custody and control of persons committed thereto; ...”
The majority opinion makes a needless distinction without reason.
The decision of the trial court should be affirmed. Landis, J., concurs.
NOTE, — Reported in 211 N. E. 2d 172.