Court Opinion

ID: 9848220
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:14:48.171643+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:08.228859
License: Public Domain

GiveN, Judge,
concurring:
I am in full accord with the action of the Court in discharging the writ and in remanding the prisoner to the custody of the warden. I am disturbed only by the method followed in reaching the conclusion making that action necessary, as stated in Point 3, and then only because the method leads inevitably to serious difficulties. The method followed is to hold the validity or invalidity of the order setting aside the sentence indeterminable until some subsequent time, some subsequent action of the court, in the instant case the entry of the order imposing the new sentence. In the instant case, no particular prejudice resulted to the prisoner, because the setting aside of the first sentence and the imposing of the new sentence were near the same time, but it must be kept in mind that a longer period, perhaps months, may intervene between the time of the entry of an order setting aside a sentence and the imposition of a new sentence, and that the bases or purposes for setting aside sentences are varied and numerous.
The validity of an order setting aside a sentence at a term of court at which entered, at least in so far as the present question is concerned, rests squarely and solely on the jurisdiction of the court to enter it. Such jurisdiction either exists or does not exist at the time of the entry of the order. To say that the validity of the order and, necessarily, the jurisdiction, must be determined at some *122subsequent time, by some subsequent action, is to have the validity and, necessarily, the question of jurisdiction, in suspense and indeterminable, in suspense and indeterminable for an indefinite time, perhaps months. Such a holding results in uncertainties as to the status and rights of the prisoner, and may, in many circumstances, result in grave injustice to him. During the time the validity of the order setting aside the sentence is held in suspense, is indeterminable, is the imprisonment of the prisoner by virtue of a warrant or indictment, or is he serving a portion of his sentence previously or yet to be imposed? Is he entitled to bond, or is he being imprisoned unlawfully and entitled to be released on habeas corpus? All such uncertainties would be avoided by simply saying that a trial court is empowered to set aside a sentence, at the term at which the sentence was imposed, and that any subsequent order or sentence is invalid only in so far as the court thereby exceeds its jurisdiction. An examination of the authorities cited by the Court, I believe, will support this view, though, admittedly, some language is found in opinions supporting the view stated by the Court.