Opinion
June 12, 1963.
September 12, 1963.
Criminal Law — Sentence — Illegal sale of drugs — Sentences to run consecutively — Entry of term consisting of totals of minimum and maximum limits of sentences — Act of July 11, 1917, P.L. 758, amended by Act of July 19, 1957, P.L. 1013 — Act of June 25, 1937, P.L. 2093.
1. Section 12(a)(1) of the Act of July 11, 1917, P.L. 758, as amended by the Act of July 19, 1957, P.L. 1013, authorizes a sentence of five to ten years for the first offense of illegal sale of drugs.
2. Under the Act of June 25, 1937, P.L. 2093, § 1, where two or more sentences to run consecutively are imposed, the Board of Parole may enter the term as being for a minimum which shall be the total of the minimum limits of the several sentences and a maximum which shall be the total of the maximum limits of the sentences.
Before RHODES, P.J., ERVIN, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, and FLOOD, JJ.
Appeal, No. 173, Oct. T., 1963, from order of Court of Common Pleas No. 4 of Philadelphia County, March T., 1962, No. 440, in case of Commonwealth ex rel. Eddie Lomax v. Harry E. Russell, Superintendent. Order affirmed.
Habeas corpus.
Order entered dismissing petition, opinion by GLEESON, J. Relator appealed.
Eddie Lomax, appellant, in propria persona.
Burton Satzberg and Arlen Specter, Assistant District Attorneys, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, Jr., First Assistant District Attorney, and James C. Crumlish, Jr., District Attorney, for appellee.
Submitted June 12, 1963.
This is an appeal from an order of the court of common pleas dismissing a prisoner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
The prisoner was convicted on two bills of indictment charging illegal sales of drugs during the month of March 1959. On September 8, 1960, he was sentenced to 5 to 10 years on each bill to run consecutively. The parole board entered his term as being for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years. The petitioner claims that the sentences and the entry of his prison term by the Board of Parole were illegal.
The sentences were imposed under § 12(a1) of the Act of July 11, 1917, P.L. 758, as amended by the Act of July 19, 1957, P.L. 1013, which authorizes a sentence of 5 to 10 years for the first offense of illegal sale of drugs. This was the law in effect at the time of sentence and at the time the offenses were committed. The sentences were legal. They were not imposed under the Act of September 22, 1961, P.L. 1592, as the petitioner contends. That statute had not been enacted when the petitioner was sentenced.
The Board of Parole properly entered the sentence. See Act of June 25, 1937, P.L. 2093, § 1, 19 P. S. § 897; Commonwealth ex rel. Baerchus v. Day, 178 Pa. Super. 455, 115 A.2d 894 (1955).
Order affirmed.