Brugman v. Eaton

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMay 2, 2023
Docket3:22-cv-01350
StatusUnknown

This text of Brugman v. Eaton (Brugman v. Eaton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brugman v. Eaton, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL BRUGMAN, Case No.: 22cv1350-RBM(LR)

12 Petitioner, REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 13 v. RE: PETITIONER’S MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS 14 PATRICK EATON, et al.,

15 Respondents. [ECF No. 6] 16 17 18 This Report and Recommendation is submitted to United States District Judge 19 Ruth B. Montenegro pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 636(b) and Civil Local Rules 72.1(d) and 20 HC.2 of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. 21 Petitioner, a state prisoner represented by counsel, filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas 22 Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (“Petition”) on September 8, 2022, raising the 23 single, exhausted claim that the trial court violated his federal constitutional right to due 24 process under the Fourteenth Amendment because he was convicted of assault with a 25 deadly weapon despite insufficient evidence. (See Pet., ECF No. 1 at 3, 6.) Petitioner 26 concurrently filed a Memorandum in support of his Petition (Pl.’s Mem., ECF No. 5) as 27 well as an “Application to hold [his] Federal Habeas Petition in Abeyance Pending 28 Exhaustion of Issues in State Court” on October 10, 2022. (See Pet’r’s Stay Mot., ECF 1 No. 6 (“Stay Mot.”).) 2 Pursuant to Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005), Petitioner asks the Court to stay 3 this case while he exhausts claims regarding newly discovered evidence and ineffective 4 assistance of counsel. (See Stay Mot. at 2-3.) Respondents filed a Response to 5 Petitioner’s Stay Motion on November 9, 2022, noting that while they have no objection 6 to this action being stayed pending Petitioner’s exhaustion of the other claims in state 7 court, the stay should be granted under Kelly v. Small, 315 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2003) and 8 King v. Ryan, 564 F. 3d 1133 (9th Cir. 2009), rather than Rhines. (See Resp’ts’ Resp. 9 (“Resp.”), ECF No. 8 at 1-2.) For the reasons set forth below, the Court 10 RECOMMENDS that Petitioner’s Stay Motion pursuant to Rhines be DENIED and 11 GRANTED under Kelly. 12 I. RELEVANT BACKGROUND 13 Petitioner was convicted by juries in two separate trials of numerous criminal 14 offenses, including corporal injury to someone with whom he had a dating relationship 15 and assault with a deadly weapon. (See ECF No. 8-2 at 1-2.) Petitioner was initially 16 charged on February 6, 2018. (See ECF No. 8-5 at 10.) The trial court sentenced 17 Petitioner to a prison term of 25 years and eight months on August 21, 2019. (See id. at 18 13.) 19 Petitioner filed his Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in this Court on September 20 8, 2022, raising a single claim that the trial court violated his constitutional right to due 21 process under the Fourteenth Amendment because he was convicted of assault with a 22 deadly weapon despite insufficient evidence: 23 Petitioner was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon based upon a collision he had with another car. The Defense 24 acknowledged that [P]etitioner[’]s driving was reckless. 25 However, the record does not support a reasonable inference that at the time of the collision [P]etitioner committed an act 26 that he knew would directly and probably result in battery. 27 28 1 (ECF No. 1 at 6.) He had previously raised this claim by direct appeal, and the California 2 Supreme Court denied review one year and ninety days prior, on June 9, 2021. (ECF No. 3 8-2.) 4 On October 10, 2022, Petitioner filed the instant Motion for Stay and Abeyance, 5 indicating for the first time that he has filed a petition in state court presenting additional 6 claims related to newly discovered evidence and ineffective assistance of counsel. (See 7 Stay Mot. at 6-7.) Specifically, he claims that the newly discovered evidence includes 8 facts “that would have rebutted the rape of an unconscious victim charge,” as well as 9 false claims that the victim made to the police about being the victim of domestic abuse. 10 (Stay Mot. at 2-3.) Respondents note that although Petitioner has specifically requested a 11 stay under Rhines, which permits a court to stay a petition containing both exhausted and 12 unexhausted claims, such a stay is unnecessary because the petition presently before the 13 Court only contains one fully exhausted claim. (See Resp. at 1, 3-4.) Accordingly, as 14 Respondents argue, a stay under Kelly is appropriate here, and they do not oppose such a 15 stay. (Id.) 16 II. DISCUSSION 17 A. Legal Standard 18 A federal district court may not address a petition for writ of habeas corpus unless 19 the petitioner has exhausted state remedies with respect to each of the issue(s) presented. 20 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A); Fields v. Waddington, 401 F.3d 1018, 1020 (9th Cir. 2005) 21 (“We may review the merits of Petitioner’s habeas petition only if he exhausted state 22 court remedies”). Generally, to satisfy the exhaustion requirement, a petitioner must 23 “‘fairly present[]’ his federal claim to the highest state court with jurisdiction to consider 24 it,” or “demonstrate[] that no state remedy remains available.” Johnson v. Zenon, 88 25 F.3d 828, 829 (9th Cir. 1996) (citing Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4, 6 (1982); Picard v. 26 Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275 (1971)). A state prisoner seeking relief with respect to a 27 California conviction is required to fairly present his federal claims to the California 28 Supreme Court. See Keating v. Hood, 133 F.3d 1240, 1242 (9th Cir. 1998). 1 Pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), all 2 federal habeas petitions are subject to a one-year statute of limitations, and claims not 3 exhausted and presented to the federal court within the one-year period are forfeited. 28 4 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Federal district courts may not consider a “mixed” federal habeas 5 petition—one which contains both exhausted and unexhausted claims. See Rose v. 6 Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 522 (1982). 7 There are two procedures available to federal habeas petitioners who present both 8 exhausted and unexhausted claims for relief in the same petition. Under the Rhines 9 procedure, a district court may stay a mixed petition while the petitioner returns to state 10 court to exhaust his unexhausted claims. 544 U.S. at 277-78; see also King v. Ryan, 564 11 F.3d 1133, 1140 (9th Cir. 2009). For a Rhines stay, a petitioner must establish, amongst 12 other requirements, that good cause exists for his failure to exhaust the claim for which a 13 stay is sought and that the claims are potentially meritorious. 544 U.S. at 277-78. 14 An additional stay procedure exists in the Ninth Circuit—the Kelly stay—as it is 15 commonly known. See 315 F.3d at 1070-71, overruled on other grounds by Robbins v. 16 Carey, 481 F.3d 1143, 1149 (9th Cir. 2007).

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Related

Picard v. Connor
404 U.S. 270 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Rose v. Lundy
455 U.S. 509 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Anderson v. Harless
459 U.S. 4 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Rhines v. Weber
544 U.S. 269 (Supreme Court, 2005)
United States v. George McGregor
11 F.3d 1133 (Second Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Raoul Barrie Clymer
25 F.3d 824 (Ninth Circuit, 1994)
Andreas Kelly v. Larry Small, Warden
315 F.3d 1063 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
Vincent L. Fields v. Doug Waddington
401 F.3d 1018 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Fred Jay Jackson v. Ernest C. Roe, Warden
425 F.3d 654 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Arthur Robbins, III v. Tom L. Carey
481 F.3d 1143 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Mayle v. Felix
545 U.S. 644 (Supreme Court, 2005)
King v. Ryan
564 F.3d 1133 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Turner v. Duncan
158 F.3d 449 (Ninth Circuit, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
Brugman v. Eaton, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brugman-v-eaton-casd-2023.