Caryl Chessman v. Harley O. Teets, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, California

Chessman appeals from an order of the District Court denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus. The record shows that among convictions on seventeen counts, he was convicted on two counts of an information charging him with the kidnapping of two young women for the purpose of robbery with bodily harm on which the jury found he should suffer the death penalty. The kidnappings and robberies were accompanied by acts of sexual perversion which Chessman compelled the women to commit. The record of his trial shows that on a third charge of kidnapping and infliction of bodily harm the jury found that he should be imprisoned for life without possibility of parole, a fact his various pleadings carefully avoid mentioning for reasons later apparent.

The gravamen of his application is that he was denied due process by the State in that the trial Court, in his prosecution for kidnapping with bodily harm, instructed the jury that it must render a verdict for the death penalty if they found him guilty on these charges, whereas the jury had the option not to fix the death penalty and that the judge stated to the jury: “This defendant is one of the worst criminals I have had in my…