In Re Downs

This is a petition made in behalf of Eddie J. Downs to procure his release from San Quentin prison on habeas corpus.

On January 19, 1928, Eddie J. Downs pleaded guilty to the crime of robbery in the superior court of Riverside County. Judgment was thereupon pronounced, and Eddie J. Downs was sentenced to imprisonment at San Quentin for the term prescribed by law, and he is now confined in said prison pursuant to said judgment.

Petitioner contends that Eddie J. Downs should be released from the state prison on habeas corpus for the following reason: “Said Eddie J. Downs at the time of his arrest and at the time of the hearing held in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Riverside informs your petitioner and your petitioner therefore alleges that he made a request in open court to be transferred to the juvenile court on the ground that he was then a minor under the age of eighteen years. That said request was then and there denied without any just cause therefor, and contrary to the laws of the State of California in such cases made and provided.”

The difficulty with petitioner’s contention is that there is absolutely no competent evidence of any…