126 P. 856 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1912
The petitioner, Martin I. Welsh, acting in behalf of one John W. Mitchell, and claiming that he is unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the warden of the Folsom state prison, at Represa, this state, seeks the release of said Mitchell through the writ of habeas corpus.
The petition disclosed that Mitchell, in the month of December, 1911, was arrested upon a complaint, based upon section
On the day of the arraignment of Mitchell and his plea of guilty, as stated, the court before which said proceeding took place, in the exercise of the power and authority vested in the courts of this state by section
On the seventh day of March, 1912, said Mitchell was brought before department 1 of said superior court and was thereupon, after due proceedings, sentenced by said court to imprisonment for a term of two years in the state prison, which is the maximum punishment by imprisonment prescribed by section
The specific grounds upon which the contention is urged that the restraint of Mitchell is illegal are that the several sections under which the proceedings above outlined were had are, for a number of alleged reasons, violative of certain provisions and inhibitions of the constitution. These reasons may thus be briefly stated: That a person proceeded against under said sections is thus denied a speedy trial and "in part of the right of trial by jury"; that section
Section
The legislature of 1903, working on certain humane lines developed by the investigations of criminalogists, who had *571 for many years devoted their time and much study to the question of a scientific treatment of criminals, passed what is known as the probation law, by which, if valid, the courts are authorized, when the circumstances justify it, to allow persons arraigned before them for public offenses to go at large on probation, on certain conditions, such persons still, however, remaining within the jurisdiction and power of the courts, in preference to incarcerating them in prison and thus marking them with the indelible opprobrium of a convict. The manifest object of this humane enactment was and is to accomplish, if possible, the reform of those thus led astray either through their own uncontrolled volition or by vicious associates. The legislature of 1905 amended this law in some particulars, but such amendment is not material to this inquiry.
In 1911 the legislature added a number of sections to the Penal Code, of which section
We do not understand that the petitioner questions the constitutional power of the legislature to penalize the act of parents in willfully and without lawful excuse refusing to support and maintain their minor children. In other words, it is not our understanding that it is claimed that section
But, as stated, it is not the contention that section
We are unable to agree to the contention as thus stated. It is not necessary, in the determination of the issue submitted here, to inquire into the question whether sections
But, assuming that sections 1203 and 270d were intended to be and are a part of section
Section
The result of the foregoing views is that, assuming that section
As to the contention with respect to section
The Texas cases cited and relied upon by counsel for Mitchell present a different situation from that involved here, and they are, therefore, not in point and have no application to the facts of this case.
As to sections
For the reasons herein set forth, the writ will be discharged and the prisoner remanded to the custody of the warden of the state prison at Represa.
Chipman, P. J., and Burnett, J., concurred. *575