Larry Lee Christiansen v. Joseph C. O'connor, Sheriff of San Diego County, State of California

, Larry Lee Christiansen, in California penal custody following his conviction and sentence for grand theft, applied to the district court for a writ of habeas corpus. His one ground for relief was that he had been denied a speedy trial, and that this contravened his constitutional rights under the Sixth Amendment which, he asserts, is made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court denied the application and Christiansen appeals.

Christiansen filed his application on June 8, 1966, which was one day before his state trial and conviction. The district court denied his application on July 8, 1966, which was after Christiansen’s state conviction, but before sentence was pronounced on August 30, 1966. He has an appeal from his state conviction and sentence now pending in the California appellate court, in which appeal he has raised his speedy trial question.

While Christiansen has not exhausted his state remedies in the criminal proceeding, he did, prior to the state trial, seek relief by way of prohibition or mandamus in the California District Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. Apparently on the basis of…