Andrew McGarrity v. Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden California State Prison, San Quentin, California, and the People of the State of California
Opinion
Opinion
Hamley, J.
Andrew S. McGarrity, in California penal custody under a life sentence following his 1959 conviction of first degree murder, applied to the district court for a writ of habeas corpus and sought leave to proceed in that court in forma '.pauperis. The district court denied the motion to proceed in forma pauperis. McGarrity appeals.
The district court did not deny the motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis because of a failure by McGarrity to meet the formal requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (1964). It did so because, in the court’s view, the application for a writ of habeas corpus is frivolous. This is a proper ground for denial of such a motion. Blair v. People of State of California, 9 Cir., 340 F.2d 741, 742 .
A number of exhibits were attached to the application, one being a copy of a previous application McGarrity had filed with the Supreme Court of California. One contention and supporting allegation set out in this exhibit, but not in the application proper, is to the effect that, at McGarrity’s state trial, his landlady was permitted to testify against him while he was held elsewhere in a locked room.