United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

In re Mills, 135 U.S. 263 (1890)

In re Mills

No. 4, Original

Submitted April 3, 1890

Decided April 28, 1890

135 U.S. 263

ORIGINAL

Syllabus

The words "punishable by imprisonment at hard labor" in the Act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 783, c. 333, "to establish a United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," embrace offenses which, although not imperatively required by statute to be so punished, may, in the discretion of the court, be punished by imprisonment in a penitentiary.

Where a statute of the United States prescribing a punishment by imprisonment does not require that the accused shall be confined in a penitentiary, a sentence of imprisonment cannot be executed by confinement in a penitentiary unless the sentence is for a period longer than one year.

A judgment of a district court sentencing a prisoner who had pleaded guilty to two indictments, for offenses punishable by imprisonment but not required to be in a penitentiary, to imprisonment in a penitentiary, in one case for a year and in the other for six months, is in violation of the statutes of the United States.