In Re Adams

Petitioner Al Adams, presently held in the county jail of the city and county of San Francisco, seeks a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner was sentenced for violations of Vehicle Code, sections 502 and 483, and Municipal Police Code, section 152. The public defender was appointed to represent the petitioner. At the trial on November 8, 1957, the public defender, not the petitioner, entered a plea of not guilty, waived a jury trial and submitted the case on the police report. Petitioner alleges that his constitutional right was'violated as he did not personally waive a jury trial, nor could he properly have done so because of his alcoholic condition at the time of the trial. The People do not dispute the allegations of the petitioner, but state only that the petitioner is imprisoned pursuant to a valid judgment.

A violation of a defendant’s constitutional right during the trial is ground for an attack on the judgment by habeas corpus. (In re Wallace, 24 Cal.2d 933 [ 152 P.2d 1 ].)

Article I, section 7 of the state Constitution, provides in part: ‘1 The right of trial by jury shall be secured and remain inviolate, ... A trial by jury may be waived in all criminal eases, by the…