People v. Coffman

BRAY, J.

Petitioner, a prisoner at Folsom, petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandamus, writ of error

coram .nobis,

writ of habeas corpus or for a new trial. The court, by order, denied the petition. Petitioner appeals.

Record

Petitioner, before the trial court and here, appeared in propria persona. On June 23, 1944, petitioner was indicted under an indictment containing three counts. The first count accused him and John Doe jointly with the murder of James B. Stanley on June 10, 1944, at San Francisco. The second count charged defendant alone with the murder of the same person at the same time and place. The third count charged John Doe alone with the same offense. On October 5, 1944, petitioner was arraigned in the presence of his attorney, the assistant public defender. At the latter’s request the cause was twice continued to plead. On October 18, defendant in

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the presence of his attorney pleaded not guilty. It was then continued to be set. On October 25, defendant and his attorney being present, the case was set for trial for December 7. It was then continued to January 11, 1945, for trial. Defendant being present with his attorney, the district attorney with leave of court, filed an amended indictment. The only change in the indictment was the setting up of a prior conviction of manslaughter in Oklahoma in 1940. Defendant was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to counts 1 and 2. (It does not appear that he then pleaded to the prior.) By consent, the cause was set for trial for January 15. On that day petitioner appeared with his counsel and admitted the prior. He requested, and was granted permission, to change his plea, and pleaded guilty to counts 1 and 2. The court determined the degree to be first degree. Defendant waived time and asked immediate sentence. He was then asked “if he had any legal cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced against him; to which defendant replied that he had none.” The court then sentenced him to imprisonment for the term of life on each count, the sentences to run concurrently.

June 14, 1950, over five years after being sentenced, petitioner filed in the San Francisco Superior Court a petition for mandamus to compel the People of the State of California, the District Attorney of San Francisco and others, to settle petitioner’s “petition for the writ of error coram nobis and alternative writ of habeas corpus, or a new trial.” Apparently what petitioner wants is a review of his conviction, and particularly a new trial, regardless of what, if any, writs or remedies apply.