In Re Williams

The return to the writ shows that the sheriff of the county of Los Angeles holds the petitioner in custody by virtue of a commitment out of the superior court of Los Angeles County in an action of the People v. T. S. Williams. The judgment in that action, as shown by the commitment, recites that in an information filed in said court the defendant was charged with the crime of “Violation Corporate Securities Act, a felony,” and that he pleaded guilty as charged in said information. Thereupon the court adjudged that the defendant be punished' by imprisonment in the state prison of the state of California, at San Quentin, for the term prescribed by law, and remanded him to the custody of the sheriff, to be by him delivered into the custody of the warden of said prison.

Petitioner contends that his detention by the sheriff is illegal in this, that the statutory provisions under which he was informed against and sentenced and imprisoned are unconstitutional and void; that the superior court has no jurisdiction of his person or of the subject matter of the charge; that the information does not charge a public offense; that the sentence and judgment is void; that the court had no…