South

The petitioner seeks a peremptory writ of mandate to compel the Superior Court of Napa County to dismiss an information charging him with murder. The application is based upon alleged failure to prosecute the cause with diligence.

The petitioner was arrested December 29, 1929, at' Tountville, under a federal process, for violating the prohibition act. In the mélée he shot the federal officer, Robert D. Freeman, in the shoulder. Under a mittimus, he was temporarily placed in the custody of the sheriff of Napa County, as a federal prisoner. January 6, 1930, he was indicted by the federal. grand jury of the Northern District of California, upon four counts, to wit: Resisting an officer, illegal possession of intoxicating liquor, the unlawful use of a deadly weapon and the infliction of great bodily injury upon the arresting officer. He was retained as a federal prisoner in the Napa County jail until February 25, 1930, when he was transferred to the Sacramento County jail for trial in the United States District Court. In the meantime, Freeman died on February 8th from the effect of the gunshot wound. The sheriff of Napa County filed a complaint in the justice’s court charging him…