Gressett

Petitioner, Michael Gressett, a former senior deputy district attorney in Contra Costa County, is the named defendant (hereafter defendant) in a criminal indictment charging four counts of forced sodomy (Pen. Code, § 286, subd. (c)(2)), four counts of forced sexual penetration (Pen. Code, § 289, subd. (a)(1)), two counts of forced rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. (a)(2)), one count of forced oral copulation (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (c)(2)), one count of false imprisonment (Pen. Code, § 236), and one count of making criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422). By this petition for writ of mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085; Drumgo v. Superior Court (1973) 8 Cal.3d 930, 933 [ 106 Cal.Rptr. 631 , 506 P.2d 1007 ] (Drumgo)), he challenges an order denying his request that Attorney Daniel J. Russo be appointed at county expense as his assigned counsel. (Pen. Code, § 987 et seq.) He contends that he established good cause for the appointment.

Following our summary denial of the petition, the Supreme Court directed us to vacate our order and issue an alternative writ. As will be seen, we now again deny the petition.

When the petition was initially filed in this court, defendant…