In Re Merwin

The petitioner was charged with the crime of murder. He entered pleas of “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity.” At the hearing on the first of these pleas the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder of the second degree. At the subsequent hearing on the second plea the jury returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. The petitioner was thereupon committed by the court to the state hospital for the insane at Talmage. After having been confined in that hospital for more than a year, he applied to the trial court for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was…