Duffy

The attorney general moves to dismiss as irregular, in that it is assertedly taken solely for the purpose of delaying execution of a valid death sentence, this appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Marin County which denies a petition for writ of mandate. The writ is sought to compel respondents, the warden and acting warden of San Quentin State Prison, to institute a judicial inquiry into the sanity of Arthur R. Eggers, who is confined in the prison under judgment imposing the sentence of death, which judgment has been affirmed on appeal (People v. Eggers (1947), 30 Cal.2d 676 [ 185 P.2d 1 ]). The procedure for such an inquiry is set *579 out in sections 3701 through 3704 of the Penal Code. Section 3701 provides, in material part, “If, after his delivery to the warden for execution, there is good reason to believe that a defendant, under judgment of death, has become insane, the warden must call such fact to the attention of the district attorney of the county in which the prison is situated, whose duty it is to immediately file in the superior court of such county a petition, stating the conviction and judgment, and the fact that the defendant is believed to be insane,…