Will Jones v. People of the State of California, Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden

The appellant Jones is confined in the State Penitentiary of California which is under the control of the appellee Warden. On July 3, 1962, he was found guilty of a charge of second degree murder filed in a Superior Court of California and sentenced to serve for a term prescribed by law. His petition for writ of habeas corpus filed in the Supreme Court of California October 26, 1964 was denied. Thereafter he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court which petition was denied. His certificate of probable cause was granted by the District Court and his appeal from the denial of his petition is before us.

His first contention here is based upon the fact that at appellant’s trial his counsel by stipulation agreed that the trial judge might read the record of preliminary examination testimony of a prosecution witness who was unavailable at the time of trial and at the same time appellant’s counsel made no objection to the court’s reading of the coroner’s autopsy report. Jonés relies upon Pointer v. State of Texas, 380 U.S. 400 , 85 S.Ct. 1065 , 13 L.Ed.2d 923 . That case is not in point here for there the testimony of a prosecution witness at the…