Ex parte Curtis

On the twelfth day of October, 1891, the petitioner was, by the police court of the city and county of San Francisco, held to answer, without bail, upon a charge of murder alleged to have been committed in said city and county on the eleventh day of September, 1891.

ITis petition for the writ of habeas corpus is based *189 upon sections 1490 and 1491 of the Penal Code, which provide that when a person is imprisoned or detained in custody on any criminal charge for want of bail, such person is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of giving bail, etc.; and the sole question for decision is, whether, upon the evidence relating to the offense charged, the prisoner ought to be released on bail. A prisoner charged with any offense not punishable with death is entitled, before conviction, to be admitted to bail as a matter of right, but a defendant charged with an offense punishable with death cannot be admitted to bail, when the proof of his guilt is evident or the presumption thereof great. (Pen. Code, secs. 1270, 1271; Const., art. I., sec. 6.) Murder of the first degree, only, is punishable with death, and the question therefore reduces itself to this: Is there, upon…