Ex parte Casey

The prisoner was convicted of misdemeanor in the police court of the city and county of San Francisco, and fined five hundred dollars, “and in default of payment of said fine, to be imprisoned in the county jail of the city and county of San Francisco, state of California, at the rate of one day for each one dollar of such fine, until said fine is satisfied.”

It is conceded that the offense of which the prisoner was convicted is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by both. (Pen. Code, sec. 19.)

In this case the court imposed the fine only, with the alternative of imprisonment, in case of default in payment of the fine, not exceeding one day for each dollar of such fine, unless the same was satisfied. Under this judgment the prisoner has been in jail six months, and it is claimed that he is now entitled to be discharged; it being insisted on his behalf that the court had no jurisdiction to impose such a fine, or make such an apportionment thereof as would extend the period of imprisonment for non-payment thereof beyond the period of six months, — the maximum term of imprisonment which the…