Ex Parte Vice

It is alleged in the petition that the prisoner is unlawfully imprisoned and restrained of his liberty by Thomas F. O’Neil, sheriff of the city and county of San Francisco. The imprisonment is claimed to be unlawful for the alleged reason that the prisoner has been committed and held to answer by a judge of the police court of the said city on a criminal charge of embezzlement without reasonable or probable cause. This is made a ground for discharging a party in habeas corpus proceedings. (Pen. Code, sec. 1487, subd. 7.) And a discharge in such case is the rule in the supreme court. {Ex parte Sternes, 82 Cal. 245 , [ 23 Pac. 38 ]; In re Kennedy, 144 Cal. 635 , [ 103 Am. St. Rep. 117 , 78 Pac. 34 ].)

The commitment in this case, so far as material here, is as follows: “The People of the State of California to the Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco: An order having this day been made by me, that William Robert Vice, complained of as W. R. Vice, be held to answer upon a charge of felony, to wit: embezzlement, committed as follows: said William Robert Vice, complained of as W. R. Vice, did in the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, on or about the 24th…