CALIFORNIA: Race in the Death House

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Almost instantly, news of the split-second drama raced across the nation. Loudly Lawyer-Governor Knight explained : "I did everything possible to give Mr. Davis every opportunity to develop anything new in the case. This he could not do. In return he staged a dramatic stunt—with no legal ground to stand on—by waiting until the very last minute and then appealing for still another stay."

Tragedy's Calendar. From Lawyer Davis came the charge that Goody Knight's "open lines" were busy when the governor claimed that they were not. But more important than even the fact that Davis did have an opportunity to make his plea at an earlier date was the clear instance of how a set of confused legal procedures can spell tragedy. On the one hand, said Davis, federal law allows an attorney 90 days to file for a writ of certiorari (a re-examination of the record) upon the State Supreme Court's refusal of a rehearing. But in Abbott's case, the State Court set the date for execution two weeks before the 90-day limit. Thus, with the writ still on file, there was the barest possibility that Convicted Murderer Burton Abbott might have won a new trial.