Brown

This is an original proceeding by mandamus to compel the respondent to settle a bill of exceptions in a criminal case. The cause has been submitted upon a general demurrer to the petition. The facts alleged in the petition, and admitted by the demurrer, are, that on the 19th of January, 1891, the petitioner was accused, by information, of the crime of grand larceny, and was thereupon tried and convicted. After some delays, granted for the purpose of enabling the official reporter to transcribe his short-hand notes of the testimony, a motion for a new trial was submitted and overruled, and sentence pronounced on May 16, 1891. The petitioner at once appealed from- the judgment and order, obtained the certificate of respondent that there was probable cause for the appeal, and an order admitting her to bail, and fixing the amount thereof pending the appeal.

Up to this point the petitioner had been represented in all stages of the prosecution by one of two members of a firm of attorneys. Both rvere nominally her counsel, but actually the case had been conducted by one of them exclusively, and the other was entirely unfamiliar with it. The evidence was vohiminous, covering some eight…