In Re Northcott

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner is confined in the California state prison at San Quentin under an indeterminate sentence for the crime of murder in the second degree, after having been tried and convicted by a jury in the superior court of San Mateo County. An appeal was taken from the judgment of conviction and the order denying a motion for a new trial, in which all errors alleged to have been committed prior thereto were reviewed, and on February 2, 1920, said judgment and order were duly affirmed. (People v. Northcott, 45 Cal. App. 706 [ 189 Pac. 704 ].)

The petitioner now alleges in this application that the trial court, in receiving the verdict, failed to follow the procedure prescribed by section 1164 of the Penal Code, and that, therefore, the judgment is void. Assuming such allegation to be true, and that the requirements of said section were not complied with, such omission did not divest the court of jurisdiction. It amounted to nothing more than án error committed in the exercise of jurisdiction, which error should have been presented for review upon the appeal from the judgment. A writ of habeas corpus may not be invoked to inquire…