CHAPTER 341

An. Act to amend and reenact § 58-296 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to additional confinement for certain convicts sentenced to like
punishment.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

Ft § 53-296 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
ws:

§ 53-296. When a person convicted of an offense, and sentenced to
confinement therefor in the penitentiary, is received therein, if it shall come
to the knowledge of the Director of the Department of Welfare and Insti-
tutions that he has been sentenced to a like punishment in the United States
prior to the sentence he is then serving, the Director of the Department of
Welfare and Institutions shall give information thereof without delay to
the Circuit Court of the city of Richmond. Such court shall cause the convict
to be brought before it, to be tried upon an information filed, alleging the
existence of records of prior convictions and the identity of the prisoner
with the person named in each. The prisoner may deny the existence of
any such records, or that he is the same person named therein, or both.
Either party may, for good cause shown, have a continuance of the case for
such reasonable time as may be fixed by the court. The existence of such
records, if denied by the prisoner, shall be first determined by the court,
and if it be found by the court that such records exist, and the prisoner
says that he is not the same person mentioned in such records, or remains
silent, his plea, or the fact of his silence, shall be entered of record, and a
jury * shall be impaneled to inquire whether the convict is the same person
mentioned in the several records. If they find that he is not the same
person, he shall be remanded to the penitentiary; but if they find that he
is the same person, or if he acknowledge in open court after being duly
cautioned, that he is the same person, * he may be sentenced to be confined
in the penitentiary for such additional time as the court trying the case may
deem proper. This section, however, shall not apply to successive convic-
tions of petit larceny.

If the Circuit Court of the city of Richmond cannot, on the evidence
available, make a determination of the convict’s allegation of illegality of
his prior conviction by reason of unrecorded matters of fact relative to
his prior conviction, the Circuit Court of the city of Richmond may certify
such question for hearing and determination to the court of said conviction
which court shall conduct a hearing and make a finding of fact and deter-
mination of such unrecorded matters of fact, sending a certified copy of
ats order to the Circuit Court of the city of Richmond.