Barbara Graham, John A. Santo, and Emmett R. Perkins v. H. O. Teets, Warden, California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California

On March 7, 1955, the Supreme Court of the United States, Graham v. People of State of Cal., 348 U.S. 959 , 75 S.Ct. 451 , denied a writ of certiorari to bring before that Court the affirmance by the Supreme Court of the State of California, People v. Santo, 43 Cal.2d 319 , 273 P.2d 249 , of the judgments convicting petitioners of the crime of murder and sentencing them to be executed. The execution was ordered for June 3, 1955.

Petitioners’ Attorney Matthews claims that the convictions ' violated constitutional rights of his clients and it is assumed for the purpose of this opinion that his contention is valid and his clients wrongly convicted.

He contends that if the constitutional questions had been considered and decided by the California Supreme Court in the appeal from the convictions they had the right to file at once an application for a writ of habeas corpus in a proper district court of the United States in the State of California. Absent such a consideration by the California Supreme Court, their remedy is by a petition for the writ to that court. This clearly appears from the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Allen, 1952, 344 U.S. 443 , 73 S.Ct.…