Ronald George Carter v. State of New Mexico, Chesten Avey v. State of New Mexico

These are companion cases which the district court dismissed without any hearing. The appellants, prisoners in the New Mexico penitentiary, brought petitions for writs of coram nobis which the district court apparently treated as petitions for habeas corpus relief. The only point raised is that the appellants were committed to the wrong place of imprisonment.

Counsel argues that appellants were sentenced to the “New Mexico Penitentiary,” N.M.S.A. 1953 § 42-1-1 places the management of the penitentiary in five commissioners who “shall constitute a body corporate under the name and style of ‘The…