In re Brown

On October 4, 1962, a jury found defendant guilty of first degree robbery. (Pen. Code, §§211, 211a.) The court sentenced him to the term prescribed by law, and defendant appealed. The Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction (People v. Brown (1963) 222 Cal.App.2d 739 [ 35 Cal.Rptr. 582 ]), and on January 29, 1964, we denied a hearing. Petitioner then took a timely appeal to the United States Supreme Court. On April 26, 1965, that court dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction and, treating his papers as a petition for a writ of certiorari, denied the petition. (Brown v. California, 380 U.S. 521 [ 14 L.Ed.2d 266 , 85 S.Ct. 1344 ].) Defendant brought this petition for a writ of habeas corpus alleging that his conviction was in violation of the rules in Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) 378 U.S. 478 [ 12 L.Ed.2d 977 , 84 S.Ct. 1758 ], and People v. Dorado (1965) 62 Cal.2d 338 [ 42 Cal.Rptr. 169 , 398 P.2d 361 ].

Two confessions which defendant gave the police contributed strongly to his conviction. At the time of each confession, defendant was under arrest and regarded as a prime suspect. Unquestionably, police interrogations designed to elicit incriminating statements prompted these…