Maxine J. La Brasca v. John Misterly, Sheriff, Sacramento County

Petitioner was convicted in state court of driving an automobile while under the influence of liquor and driving an automobile with a suspended license. Her sentence on the second charge was stayed pending completion of her sentence on the first charge.

She filed a petition for habeas corpus alleging constitutional infirmities in both convictions. The district court concluded that her conviction for driving while under the influence of liquor was free of constitutional error, but that the state trial judge violated her constitutional rights by failing to hold a hearing on the voluntariness of certain admissions pursuant to Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368 , 84 S.Ct. 1774 , 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964). However, the court denied relief on the ground that petitioner was not presently in custody under the sentence imposed on the latter charge.

Petitioner first contends that there was a total absence of evidence of guilt on either charge, and that her convictions were therefore unconstitutional under the doctrine of Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 382 U.S. 87 , 86 S.Ct. 211 , 15 L.Ed.2d 176 (1965), and Thompson v. Louisville, 362 U.S. 199 , 80 S.Ct. 624 , 4 L.Ed.2d 654 (1960). We have examined…