When a person applies for the benefit of this chapter, who is held in custody on a charge of crime or misdemeanor, his application, in the first instance, shall be to a judge of the circuit court for the county in which the applicant is held in custody, other than a municipal judge; and upon every application of the kind aforesaid, the applicant shall cause reasonable notice of the time and place of making the application to be given to the circuit or prosecuting attorney for the county in which the application is to be made, if at the time thereof such attorney be in the county, and upon such notice, it shall be the duty of such attorney to attend upon the hearing of such application on behalf of the state.