James Reese v. Fred R. Dickson, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, California

James Reese is confined in a California State Penitentiary after conviction of seven felonies as stated in his petition to me as follows: “Petitioner was convicted in the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, (California) April 19, 1956, on seven counts; two counts of murder, one count of assault with intent to commit murder, three of burglary, and one count of rape. The Superior Court imposed the death penalty on each of the two murders.”

Petitioner is sentenced to be executed on the fourteenth day of February, 1958. He claims that he has exhausted his state remedies for relief and the record shows that he has unsuccessfully petitioned the United States District Court for relief through a proceeding for the issuance of the writ of habeas corpus. The District Court refused to issue a certificate of probable cause, and the day before yesterday (February 11, 1958) petitioner filed the instant petition with me praying for me to issue the certificate and to grant him the right to appeal in forma pauperis.

His petition in the main is little or nothing more than assertions of error at his trial which could only be raised in his behalf on direct appeal. He also…