Bettie Jane Newhouse v. John Misterly, Sheriff

Habeas corpus. The petition was denied and Newhouse appeals. On Janu ary 5, 1966, in the Municipal Court of Sacramento County, California, a jury found Newhouse guilty of a violation of Cal. Veh. Code § 23102 (drunk driving). This conviction was affirmed on an appeal to the Appellate Department of the Sacramento County Superior Court. In such a case California provides for further appellate review by an application for certification of the appeal to the California Court of Appeal. See Rule 63, Cal. Rules of Court. Newhouse did not make such an application but sought habeas corpus relief in the California Court of Appeal, which was denied without opinion. A similar petition to the California Supreme Court met the same fate.

Newhouse then filed the present petition, in which she raised the following grounds of attack on her conviction: (1) Her arrest and an accompanying search for evidence was without probable cause; (2) Her constitutional rights to be free of self-incrimination and unreasonable search and seizure, and to be afforded due process and a fair trial were abrogated by (a) failure of state officers to inform her of her right to refuse to take self-incriminating tests,…