People v. Wall

On February 21, 1941, plaintiff in error, Val Jean Wall, was convicted by a jury in the circuit court of Williamson County of the crime of robbery with a gun. The court sentenced him to the penitentiary “for a term of years not less than One (1) year or life unless sooner released by due process of law.”

Plaintiff in error presents his case here on the common-law record, assigning as error that this sentence of the court, reading “not less than One (1) year or life” is not an indeterminate sentence as is required by the statutes, but constitutes two alternative determinate sentences, one a…