People ex rel. Hofsaes v. Warden of the City Prison

The People appeal from an order of the Appellate Division, Second Department, sustaining a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and discharging the relator, Frederick A. Hofsaes, from custody. The writ had been sued out of the Appellate Division in the first instance to test relator’s conviction and sentence by the Kings County Court (Leibowitm, J.), for criminal contempt in refusing to answer a question as a witness before the Kings County Grand Jury (Code Crim. Pro., § 619; Judiciary Law, § 750, subd. 5) which had been duly held over to continue an investigation into “ the alleged…