Application of Bunkers

Application for writ of habeas corpus.

Petitioner was indicted for the crime of bribery, convicted by a jury and sentenced by the court to imprisonment in the state prison at San Quentin for the term of five years, and is now in the custody of the sheriff of Sacramento County by virtue of the judgment of conviction and an order of commitment indorsed thereon.

The indictment is as follows:—

The points urged by defendant at the argument were: 1. That section 86 of the Penal Code, under which the indictment was drawn, was repealed by force of section 35 of article IV of the state constitution; 2. That the legislature, and necessarily this committee, has no power to investigate the business of a private corporation, and that the act for the doing of which petitioner was charged was not an act within his official duty, and hence there could be no bribery involved; 3. Even if the legislature had the power to make such investigation, still the indictment fails to state matters of substance required by law and hence charges no offense; and 4. That the writ of habeas corpus will lie because the court before which the cause was tried was without jurisdiction.

1. The argument of counsel,…