Commonwealth Ex Rel. Webb v. Cain, Warden

After our original opinion was entered, the district attorney petitioned for, and we granted, a rule to show cause why the order of October 2, 1945, should not be revoked. On the return day he and the prisoner presented oral arguments. The district attorney candidly conceded that the statutes providing for indeterminate sentences apply only to crimes punishable by commitment to penitentiaries, and not to crimes punished by simple imprisonment. He contended, however, that in the absence of a statute prohibiting indeterminate sentences, a judge may in the exercise of his judicial discretion,…