Jackson v. Superior Court

Petitioner seeks a writ of prohibition restraining the San Francisco Superior Court from taking any further action on an indictment charging her with murder. (Pen. Code, § 187.)

Petitioner contends that she was indicted without reasonable or probable cause (Pen. Code, § 995) in that the prosecution assertedly failed to produce any evidence at the grand jury hearing to show ‘ ‘ malice aforethought, ’ ’ and that the evidence which it did produce established as a matter of law either adequate circumstances of mitigation or a degree of intoxication sufficient to render petitioner incapable of possessing such malice. After consideration of the evidence in the light of the limited purpose of this proceeding in prohibition, we have concluded that it fails to support petitioner’s contentions and hence the peremptory writ must be denied.

*524 There was evidence before the grand jury of the following principal facts: the victim, Harry Cole, was a mutual acquaintance of petitioner and her boyfriend, Frank Darden. At approximately 7:30 p.m. on August 2, 1964, Cole called on petitioner at her home, bringing with him a fifth of vodka and some mix. Shortly after Cole’s arrival petitioner…