406 U.S. 813

92 S.Ct. 1931

32 L.Ed.2d 511

Earnest James AIKENS, Jr., Petitioner,v.

State of CALIFORNIA.

No. 68—5027.

Argued Jan. 17, 1972.Decided June 7, 1972.

Anthony G. Amsterdam, Stanford, Cal., for petitioner.

Ronald M. George, Los Angeles, Cal., for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

1 Petitioner in this case, which has been orally argued and is now sub judice, hasfiled a Suggestion of Mootness and Motion for Remand based on theintervening decision of the California Supreme Court in People v. Anderson, 6Cal.3d 628, 100 Cal.Rptr. 152, 493 P.2d 880 (1972). That decision declaredcapital punishment in California unconstitutional under Art. 1, § 6, of the stateconstitution. The decision rested on an adequate state ground and the State'spetition for writ of certiorari was denied. 406 U.S. 958, 92 S.Ct. 2060, 32L.Ed.2d 344. The California Supreme Court declared in the Anderson case thatits decision was fully retroactive and stated that any prisoner currently undersentence of death could petition a superior court to modify its judgment.Petitioner thus no longer faces a realistic threat of execution, and the issue onwhich certiorari was granted—the constitutionality of the death penalty underthe Federal Constitution—is now moot in his case. Accordingly the writ ofcertiorari is dismissed.

2 Certiorari dismissed.