Judge Oliphant said slowly, “And apparently that is exactly what the petitioner in this case has done. It needs no great imagination to realize that, step by step, he has embarked upon a course of carefully planned murder with diabolical ingenuity. If this is the law, this man has committed the perfect crime, not as it is usually planned, with such subtlety that the clues are completely concealed, but with such ingenuity that he cannot be punished. It is to be noted that the petitioner has memorized the text of that portion of California Jurisprudence dealing with the point he is making. It is, therefore, readily apparent that the full possibilities of the situation have been carefully thought out by him well in advance. The entire history of this case indicates that the petitioner is possessed of an astute legal mind which, unfortunately, is not balanced by a corresponding sense of legal ethics. However much the Court may deplore the latter, it cannot ignore the consummate brilliance with which this petitioner, frail in his physical appearance, apparently young, innocent and inexperienced, has jockeyed the authorities of two states into such a position that they are apparently powerless to punish him for a cold-blooded, premeditated, and deliberate murder, his part in which he has brazenly admitted. It is an astounding situation. To some extent, the defendant’s moral and legal lapse is atoned by his confession which has enabled the California authorities to arrest the petitioner’s accomplices. However, the fact remains that the petitioner at bar, despite his very apparent youth and inexperience, has the ability to discover, and the ingenuity to carry into execution, a scheme by which he has adroitly outwitted the sovereign authorities of two states. It is a most astounding situation.

“The court will take a thirty-minute recess during which the court will endeavor to consider this matter with a fair and impartial mind. However, the court cannot remain unaware of the seriousness of leaving such a legal loophole in our social and legislative structure. The court will not construe the organic law cited by the petitioner in the light of the petitioner’s contention unless it appears that the State of California has estopped itself from asking for a different construction by a decision which is plain and unequivocal in its language.”

Judge Oliphant got up and walked gravely into chambers. I sat there waiting in the courtroom. After a few moments, the sheriff said, “This way, Donald.”

He took me into his office. I sat there waiting. The district attorney came in and looked at me as though I was something other than human.