Benjamin Jerrel Brown v. Walter E. Craven, Warder

Petitioner was convicted of grand theft in Superior Court of the State of California for San Francisco County. The federal district court dismissed his petition for habeas corpus without an evidentiary hearing. He appealed.

As indicated by respondent, this petition was premature since it was processed while petitioner’s direct appeal was still pending in the California District Court of Appeal. Martinez v. Craven, 397 F.2d 256 (9th Cir. 1968). The District Court of Appeal affirmed petitioner’s conviction while this appeal was pending before us, but so far as appears, petitioner has not sought review by the California Supreme Court. Moreover, although petitioner stated in a document submitted to the court below that he had filed a petition for habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court, the precise questions raised are not disclosed, and, in any event, the denial was in all probability not on the merits but on the ground that the petition was premature. Witkin, California Criminal Procedure, § 796 at 768 (1963).

To avoid further delay, however, we have considered those issues decided on the merits by the federal district court.

Several of petitioner’s claims rest ultimately…