In Re Colford

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner was charged with the crime of robbery, alleged to have been committed as follows:

The jury returned a verdict of conviction reading as follows:

After the usual formal recitals the court rendered judgment:

Petitioner did not appeal and he is now confined in the state prison at Folsom. The petition alleges, in effect, that the verdict and judgment are void for uncertainty. It is also alleged that such invalidity was not discovered until after the time to move for a new trial and to appeal had expired. All persons connected with the trial inadvertently overlooked the provisions of section 211a of the Penal Code, enacted in 1923 (Stats. 1923, p. 270), and the amendment of section 213 in the same year (Stats. 1923, p. 271). Those sections read as follows:

Under the indeterminate sentence law it is made the duty of the warden of the state prison to receive every person sentenced to imprisonment therein, “who shall be confined until duly released as provided for in this act; provided, that the period of such confinement shall not exceed the maximum or be less than the minimum term of imprisonment provided by law for…