1302
Opinion in Chambers
were merely marked for identification. The prosecuting attorney's motion for a mistrial was granted by the trial court over respondents' objection, and the trial court calendared the case for a second trial starting July 17, 1995. Between the first and the second trial, the trial court denied a motion by respondents to dismiss the charges on grounds of double jeopardy, and the Supreme Court of South Carolina dismissed respondents' appeal without ruling on its merits.
Respondents then sought habeas relief in federal court under 28 U. S. C. § 2254, and sought to enjoin the imminent second trial pending final disposition of their habeas petition. On July 11, 1995, six days before the second trial was to start, the District Court for the District of South Carolina refused to issue an injunction, and a panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's determination four days later, with one judge in dissent. On July 20, three days into the trial, the Court of Appeals en banc granted respondents' request for a temporary restraining order, enjoined the state proceedings until the District Court ruled on respondents' habeas petition, and ordered the District Court to rule on the petition as expeditiously as possible. The State did not apply for a stay of the Court of Appeals' order at this time.
The very next day, the District Court, having held an 8-hour hearing to investigate respondents' double jeopardy claim, granted respondents' petition for a writ of habeas corpus. (This order, though entered July 21, was not reduced to writing for another week.) The District Court denied the State's application to stay the issuance of the writ on July 31, and the Court of Appeals denied a similar application on August 8. The State then made the application before me now.
However debatable may have been the justification for the Court of Appeals' July 20 order enjoining the continuation of a state criminal trial that had already begun, the trial was interrupted as of that date, and the State sought no relief in
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