In re Pickett

*1161 Opinion

The respondent on this appeal petitioned the Superior Court of Butte County for a writ of habeas corpus seeking his release and discharge from jail. He had been sentenced by the judge of the justice court to serve 60 days upon conviction on two misdemeanor counts of violating zoning ordinances of Butte County. The court granted the petition, ordered issuance of the writ and Pickett’s discharge from custody. For the sake of clarity, we will take the liberty of referring to the respondent by his surname.

The sole issue on this appeal by the Sheriff of Butte County is whether the court erred in granting the petition. It is the Attorney General’s position, as counsel for the appellant, that Pickett’s remedy was by direct appeal, and that habeas corpus does not lie. We hold first, that habeas corpus was the proper remedy, albeit that the court assigned the wrong reason for granting the writ; and second, that the court should have remanded the case to the justice court for rearraignment for sentencing, rather than granting an outright discharge from custody.

From an altogether inadequate record, we are able to glean the following: That the ordinances, for violations of…