JUSTICE O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
The petitioner in No. 83-1747 is the Superintendent of the Chillicothe Correctional Institute at Chillicothe, Ohio. The respondent is an Ohio prisoner in petitioner’s custody. Respondent applied to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio for a writ of habeas corpus. The District Court granted the writ, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed. Rose v. Engle, 722 F. 2d 1277 (1983). Petitioner challenges that decision in No. 83-1747.
Respondent, who is entitled to a new trial under the Court of Appeals’ ruling, has been ordered released on May 21, 1984, pending retrial. Petitioner seeks a stay of the Court of Appeals’ judgment until this Court completes its consideration of his petition. In deciding whether to grant the requested stay, I am obliged to determine whether four Justices are likely to vote to grant certiorari, to balance the “stay equities,” and to gauge the likely outcome of this Court’s consideration of the case on the merits. See Gregory-Portland Independent School District v. United States, 448 U. S. 1342 (1980) (REHNQUIST, J., in chambers). I conclude that the stay should be granted.
Respondent was convicted of murder in 1979. At the trial, the prosecutor introduced certain statements that respondent made, after he had invoked his right to silence and to the presence of an attorney, in response to a police officer’s renewed questioning. Petitioner concedes that these

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
I have before me an application requesting that I vacate a remand order issued by an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This is not the first time that applicant James Blodgett, who is Superintendent of the Washington State Penitentiary, has sought relief here with respect to Charles Campbell’s second petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Last Term applicant sought a writ of mandamus to compel the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to issue a decision in Campbell’s appeal from a District Court decision denying the petition. In re Blodgett, 502 U. S. 236 (1992). Campbell’s appeal, which had been argued and submitted on June 27, 1989, still had not been resolved in January 1992, a delay of well over two years. Id., at 237. Although we declined to issue a writ of mandamus-applicant had failed to seek appropriate relief from the Court of Appeals before seeking extraordinary relief here, id., at 240-we expressed concern about the delay and noted that applicant was free to seek mandamus relief again if the panel did not handle the case expeditiously. Id., at 240-241. In fact, we cautioned that “[i]n view of the delay that has already occurred any further postponements or extensions of time will be subject to a most rigorous scrutiny in this Court if [applicant] files a further and meritorious petition for relief.” Ibid. Approximately three months later, the Ninth Circuit panel issued an opi

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
The State of California requests that, as Circuit Justice, I stay the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court of California pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 2101(f) pending the disposition of a petition for certiorari (No. 88-1054) to review that judgment. Because I think it unlikely that four Justices would vote to grant certiorari, see Hicks v. Feiock, 479 U. S. 1305, 1306 (1986) (O’CONNOR, J., in chambers), I deny the application for issuance of a stay.
In its petition for certiorari, California seeks review of the State Supreme Court’s judgment reversing the conviction of respondent Freeman for pandering under Cal. Penal Code Ann. §266i (West 1988). 46 Cal. 3d 419, 758 P. 2d 1128 (1988). Freeman is a producer and director of pornographic films who hired and paid adults to perform sexual acts before his film cameras. In 1983, Freeman was arrested and charged with five counts of pandering based on the hiring of five such performers. He was not charged with violation of any of California’s obscenity laws. Freeman was tried before a jury and convicted on all five counts of pandering; the State Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of conviction. 198 Cal. App. 3d 292, 233 Cal. Rptr. 510 (1987).
On discretionary review, the California Supreme Court first considered the relevant statutory language of the State Penal Code. In relevant part, § 266i of the Penal Code provides that a person is guilty of felonious pandering if that person “procure[s]