In Re Bellotti

California Court of Appeal Feb 24, 1936 No. Crim. 2836Published

Before: Gould

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Holding. The court held that the petitioner, having been convicted of a felony under the California Vehicle Act, was not entitled to release based on Penal Code section 19a, which applies only to misdemeanors.

Issues

Whether a felony conviction under the California Vehicle Act is subject to the one-year county jail limit imposed by Penal Code section 19a.
Whether the petitioner was entitled to a writ of habeas corpus for his release after serving one year in county jail for a felony conviction.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“it is apparent that the writ should not have been granted herein, because respondent was convicted of a felony and not a misdemeanor.”

“Order reversed and petitioner remanded to the custody of the sheriff.”

GOULD, J.,

pro

tem.

Victor Martin Bellotti, petitioner and respondent herein, pleading guilty to a violation of section 146 of the California Vehicle Act, was sentenced by the superior court to pay a fine of $5,000, or, defaulting in such payment, to be “punished by imprisonment in the county jail” at the rate of one day for each $3 of such fine not paid. Failing to pay the fine, petitioner went to jail, remained there one year and then brought the within

habeas corpus

proceeding to procure his release. In the lower court he was successful; the writ was granted and petitioner was ordered discharged. From that order the People appeal.

Section 146 of the California Vehicle Act at the date of petitioner’s plea of guilty denounced as a felony the taking of a vehicle without the consent of the owner. The penalty for conviction of a felony was fixed by section 153d thereof as a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, or by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years, or by both such fine ai|d imprisonment ; and section 153% of the same act provided that "a judgment that a defendant pay a fine . . . may also direct that he be imprisoned until the fine be satisfied. Bpt the judgment must specify the extent of the imprisonment, which must not exceed one day for every two dollars of the fine”.

Relying upon section 17 of the Penal Code, defining a felony, and section 19a, limiting a county jail sentence to one year, and reported cases such as

People

Sacramento Butchers’ Assn.,

12 Cal. App. 471 [107 Pac. 712], respondent contends that he may not be held in confinement in the county jail for any period longer than one year. But he loses] sight of the sections of the California Vehicle Act above referred to, which specifically denominate as a felony the offense to which he pleaded guilty and fix and determine the punishment therefor. That section 17 of the Penal Code is not at variance with this conclusion is held in

In re Miller,

218 Cal. 698 [24 Pac. (2d) 766]; and the recent case of

In re Marquez,

In Re Bellotti

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GOULD, J.,

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THE COURT.

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