People ex rel. Venosa v. Murphy

I am unable to agree with the majority of the court that the order dismissing the writ of habeas corpus should be affirmed. Ordinarily, habeas corpus is not a remedy for testing the sufficiency of an indictment, in the absence of “ exceptional circumstance[s] ” (People ex rel. Sedlak v. Foster, 299 N. Y. 291, 293-294) or “ unless there be a total lack of jurisdiction to hold or to bring the defendant to trial thereon.” (People ex rel. Childs v. Knott, 187 App. Div. 604, 622, affd. 228 N. Y. 608.) Under the circumstances presented here, by the record on appeal and the statement of facts…