Williams v. Superior Court of Orange County
Annotate this CaseIn "Morrissey v. Brewer,"(408 U.S. 472 (1972)), the United States Supreme Court held that a parolee is entitled to certain procedural due process protections before parole may be revoked. Among these is the right to a prompt evidentiary hearing on whether probable cause exists to believe the parolee violated a condition of parole. In 2011, California began enacting legislation, "Realignment," that altered the state’s criminal justice system. Petitioner Wendy Williams argued that, in the wake of realignment, the State and the Orange County Superior Court have systematically denied her and other parolees the procedural protections to which they are entitled in revocation proceedings. Williams petitioned for a writ of mandate: (1) to order the Superior Court to arrange for her immediate release from custody and to dismiss the petition for revocation of her parole; and (2) to order the Superior Court and real parties in interest to provide her with reasonable due process prior to any further incarceration, including a Morrissey-compliant probable cause hearing within 15 days of arrest. The Court of Appeal granted Williams’s petition in part, holding that, in parole revocation proceedings, a parolee is entitled to arraignment within 10 days of an arrest for a parole violation, a probable cause hearing within 15 days of the arrest, and a final hearing within 45 days of the arrest.
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