People v. Superior Court (Ongley)

Opinion

HANING, J.

The People petition for a writ of mandate to compel respondent superior court to set aside its writ of prohibition restraining the municipal court from further prosecuting real party Ongley for unauthorized practice of medicine. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 2053.) The charged offense, an alternative felony/misdemeanor (in trade jargon, a “wobbler”), was first charged as a felony then reduced to a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 17, subd. (b)(5).) The superior court issued its writ on the theory that the prosecution was time-barred under the one-year misdemeanor statute of limitations.…