In Re Tsuji Horiuchi

The petitioners, fourteen in number, were indicted by the grand jury of the county of Imperial for the crime of criminal syndicalism, as defined by an act of the legislature known as the “Criminal Syndicalism Act,” approved April 30, 1919 (Stats. 1919, p. 281). Upon their arraignment the Superior Court fixed their bail at fifteen thousand dollars each. They thereupon sued out a writ of habeas corpus from this court, and the sole question to be determined is whether or not the amount of bail fixed by the Superior Court is excessive.

It is well settled by the decisions in this state that the Supreme and Appellate Courts will not interfere with the discretion exercised by the court in which the indictment was found, in the matter of fixing the amount of bail, unless it should appear per se that the amount so fixed is unreasonably great and clearly disproportionate to the offense involved. (In re Williams, 82 Cal. 183 [ 23 Pac. 118 ].) It is said in the case of Ex parte Ruef, 7 Cal. App. 750 [ 96 Pac. 24, 25 ], that “it is not sufficient that this court might originally have deemed a lesser amount sufficient. It must clearly appear that the trial court has abused its discretion…