Chavez

This is the second appeal in these habeas corpus proceedings. On the prior appeal we reversed orders of denial and remanded the causes for further proceedings. Chavez v. Dickson, 9 Cir., 280 F.2d 727 . The further proceedings were had and the district court again denied the applications. The applicants, Manuel Joe Chavez and Clyde Bates, once more appeal and have filed joint briefs in this court.

Chavez and Bates, together with one Manuel Hernandez, were jointly tried before a jury in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles, on indictments charging six counts of murder and one count of arson. 1 The charges resulted from an occurrence on April 4, 1957, when gasoline and lighted matches were thrown into a Los Angeles bar, causing the death of six persons.

All three were convicted of first degree murder on each of the murder counts, and were also all convicted on the arson count. The jury fixed the punishment of Chavez and Bates at death and that of Hernandez at life imprisonment.

Sentences of death were imposed on Chavez and Bates. Their convictions and sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court of California, People v. Chavez, 50 Cal.2d…