In Re Freeman

Petitioner Fred Harlan Freeman was sentenced to death for the January 1984 murder with special circumstances of Donald Roger. We affirmed the judgment on direct appeal. (People v. Freeman (1994) 8 Cal.4th 450 [ 34 Cal.Rptr.2d 558 , 882 P.2d 249 ].)

On February 10, 2004, Freeman filed a third petition for writ of habeas corpus presenting four claims. Each claim relied at least in part on the allegation that the Honorable Stanley P. Golde of the Alameda County Superior Court, who presided over Freeman’s trial, had an ex parte conversation with the prosecutor during which he directed the prosecutor to excuse Jewish prospective jurors from the jury, and that the prosecutor followed Judge Golde’s advice in exercising his peremptory challenges. We issued an order to show cause why relief should not be granted on the grounds that the trial judge actively colluded with the prosecutor to secure a conviction and death sentence and that the prosecutor improperly exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of religion at the advice of the trial judge. After receiving respondent’s return, we directed the Presiding Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court to select a judge to…