Matter of the Application of Clifton

The ground of the application is that the indictment charging petitioner with the crime of perjury fails to state a public offense. This by reason of the fact that it is alleged in the indictment that the perjury was committed by petitioner in giving under oath, false answers to questions propounded to her by the grand jury, the subject under investigation by said body at the time being “Prostitution in the city of Bakersfield”; that prostitution being a misdemeanor only, it was not a subject concerning which the grand jury was empowered to investigate. Hence, conceding the answers of the witness to have been false, the crime of perjury could not be predicated thereon. The crime of pandering, an offense which the grand jury might properly investigate, is so closely allied to prostitution that it would be impossible to investigate that subject without considering the question of prostitution; and if the indictment was susceptible of amendment, as no doubt it was, by striking out the subject, “Prostitution in the city of Bakersfield,” or substituting therefor the offense of pandering, it could not be said the answers given by the witness were immaterial. In our opinion, the case…