City of Baton Rouge v. Ross

On April 27, 1977, the petitioner Norman Ross, Jr. was convicted in the City Court of Baton Rouge of having violated the provisions of La.R.S. 32:414 relative to surrender of a driver’s license after its suspension, cancellation or revocation. Sometime thereafter the petitioner filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the City Court of Baton Rouge, contending that he was wrongly convicted of the offense. The application was denied on July 21, 1978 on the ground that city courts are not empowered to grant writs of habeas corpus.

The city court’s ruling was erroneous. While Article 7,…