Court Opinion

ID: 9529477
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:51:13.430994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:48.959873
License: Public Domain

MACY, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority conclude that “there is nothing in [§ 7-13-201] which requires any fixed period of time between the minimum and maximum” sentences; therefore, the sentence imposed in this case is “indeterminate and legal.” I do not agree.
“Indeterminate sentence” is defined as:
“A form of sentencpng] * * * which, instead of fixing rigidly the duration of the imprisonment, declares that it shall be for a period ‘not less than’ so many years “nor more than” so many years, * * * the exact length of the term being afterwards fixed, within the limits assigned by the court * * *, by an executive authority * * Black’s Law Dictionary at 1223 (5th ed. 1979) (emphasis added).
Wyoming’s statutory scheme is consistent with this definition. Section 7-13-201, W.S.1977, provides as follows:
“When a convict is sentenced to the state penitentiary, otherwise than for life, for an offense or crime, the court imposing the sentence shall not fix a definite term of imprisonment, but shall establish a maximum and minimum term for which said convict shall be held in said prison. The maximum term shall not be longer than the longest term fixed by law for the punishment of the offense of which he was convicted, and the minimum term shall not be less than the shortest term fixed by law for the punishment of the offense of which he was convicted.”
In turn, § 7-13-402(a), W.S.1977, provides in pertinent part:
“The board may grant a parole, that is, permission to leave the confines of the institution in which the person is confined, to any person imprisoned in any institution under sentence ordered by any district court of this state other than a life sentence, provided the person has served the minimum term pronounced by the trial court less good time, if any, granted under rules promulgated pursuant to W.S. 7-13-423.”
Finally, § 7-13-423(a), W.S.1977, provides:
“The governor, after consultation with the state board of parole and the wardens of the Wyoming state penitentiary and the women’s center, shall adopt rules and regulations to establish a system of good time and special good time allowances for inmates of the state penitentiary and the women’s center. The rules may provide either for good time to be deducted from the maximum sentence or for good time to be deducted from the minimum sentence imposed by the sentencing court, or both.”
These statutes are in pari materia and should be construed in such a manner as to give effect to all of them. To hold that a sentence imposing a minimum term of only one day less than the maximum term is “indeterminate” as contemplated by § 7-13-201, W.S.1977, is to render §§ 7-13-402(a) and 7-13-423(a), W.S.1977, meaningless.