Lavine

Petitioners seek writs of prohibition to restrain respondent court from taking further proceedings in the prosecution of petitioners on a murder charge on the ground that the indictment was found without reasonable or probable cause.

The transcript of the proceedings before the grand jury discloses that Donald E. Ludlow, a deputy sheriff, died on August 13, 1965, as a result of a shotgun wound. The fatal shot was fired accidentally by another deputy sheriff, William Buford Lauer, Jr., under circumstances hereafter recounted.

On August 12, the day preceding the shooting, Lauer had been on duty in the area referred to as the riot area which was bounded roughly on the north by Slauson Avenue, on the south by Roseerans, on the east by Alameda, and on the west by Broadway. There were numerous acts of looting and fires of apparent incendiary origin in that area. Shots had been fired at police cars and bricks, bottles and other objects had been thrown at such cars, including the one in which Lauer was riding. Because of the extent of the violence, officers had been ordered to stay away from the housing project located near Imperial and Success.

On August 13, Lauer was again advised to…