In re Newbern

KINCAID, J. pro tem.* Petitioner was arrested on March 15, 1960, on a charge of violation of subdivision (a) of section 41.27 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (intoxication in and upon a public place). He was promptly arraigned, elected to represent himself in propria persona, waived trial [105]by jury, his trial was set for a future date and his bail fixed at-$20. Having failed to post such bail he remained in the jail of the city of Los Angeles until released on his own recognizance pending final determination on his petition for writ of habeas corpus which he caused to be filed in the Supreme Court of the State of California, and which was transferred for hearing to this court.

A return to such petition was filed by the chief of police of the city of Los Angeles together with an affidavit of Thomas Reddin, deputy chief of police in charge of the Bureau of Corrections of the police department of said city. At request of petitioner it was agreed the petition herein may be considered as a traverse to the return.

While his petition charges several claimed violations of his constitutional rights his factual allegations relate solely to the subject of bail. He alleges he was arrested in the San Pedro area of the city of Los Angeles and was thereupon eligible to post bail in the sum of $20 by reason of a regularly adopted schedule of bail in misdemeanor eases. Not being possessed of this sum he telephoned from the jail and requested a bail bondsman to undertake his bail. The bail bondsman replied that he was willing and desirous of undertaking his bail but that he could not legally do so because of regulations imposed by respondent chief of police providing that some third person must accompany the bail agent to the jail release desk to act as a sponsor in behalf of petitioner for the purpose of requesting the undertaking. Petitioner alleges he could obtain no sponsor that morning although he fails to allege any efforts made by him in this connection. Following arraignment in the San Pedro division of the municipal court he was remanded to the main jail in Los Angeles to await his trial.

Petitioner further alleges such police department regulations are arbitrary, impose unnatural and unreasonable conditions, and he is foreclosed thereby from exercising his constitutional right of bail undertaken by a bail bondsman duly authorized and licensed for that specific purpose and must therefore remain in custody. That his deprivation of his constitutional rights deprives the municipal court of jurisdiction and renders his detention utterly illegal.