United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Lindsey v. Washington, 301 U.S. 397 (1937)

Lindsey v. Washington

No. 660

Argued May 3, 1937

Decided May 17, 1937

301 U.S. 397

Syllabus

A state statute making more onerous the standard of punishment is post facto and void as applied to a crime committed before its enactment. P. 301 U. S. 401.

Under the law of the Washington at the time of the alleged offense, imprisonment of the accused could have been fixed by the judge at less than the maximum of 15 years. By the law as amended and applied (c. 114, L.Wash. 1935), sentence for 15 years was made mandatory; a parole board was empowered to fix the duration of confinement within that period and to fix it anew within that period for infractions of the rules; even if paroled, the prisoner would remain subject to surveillance, and, until the expiration of the 15 years, his parole would be subject to revocation at the discretion of the board or the Governor.

187 Wash. 364, 61 P.2d 293, reversed.

Certiorari, 300 U.S. 652, to review the affirmance of a conviction of grand larceny.