In Re Cohen

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner was accused by complaint filed in the Justice’s Court of El Monte Township, Los Angeles County, of having sold intoxicating liquor in the city of Beverly Hills, situated in the same county, during the month of February, 1930, in violation of the Wright Act (Stats. 1921, p. 79). Over the objection of petitioner he was tried for the offense in the Justice’s Court of El Monte Township, where he was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000 and for failure to make payment of the fine to suffer imprisonment in the county jail at the rate of one day for every dollar not paid, not to exceed 180 days. Thereafter petitioner appealed to the appellate department of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, which court affirmed his conviction. It is admitted that the crime was committed in the city of Beverly Hills and not within the township of El Monte.

Petitioner’s contention that under section 1425 of the Penal Code, as amended in 1929 (Stats. 1929, p. 861), the Justice’s Court of El Monte Township has no jurisdiction to try him for a crime committed in Beverly Hills must be sustained. Our Supreme Court, in the recent…