In Re Culver

The petitioner herein, Lawrence Culver, is a prisoner confined in the state prison, and has applied for a writ of habeas corpus.

It appears from his petition that he was charged in the superior court in and for Los Angeles County, in two in-formations, with seven distinct felonies, consisting of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under fourteen years of age, sex perversion, and the infamous crime against nature ; that pursuant to section 954 of the Penal Code the trial court ordered the informations consolidated, and upon trial before a jury he was found guilty on all seven charges, and sentenced accordingly.

Said section 954 provides, among other things, that one information “may” charge two or more different offenses of the same class of crimes under separate counts; also that if two or more informations are filed in such cases the court “may” order them to he consolidated. Petitioner contends that since the power conferred upon the district attorney and the court respectively by the foregoing section is a discretionary one, which may or may not be exercised in all cases, said section “is contrary to the inhibitions contained in the ‘due process of law’ and ‘equal…