Caril v. State of Washington

Opinion

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5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 9 10 LEON CARIL II, CASE NO. 2:23-cv-01735-RSM-GJL 11 Petitioner, v. ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 12 CONTINUE STAY ROBERT JACKSON, 13 Respondent. 14

15 This matter is before the Court on referral from the District Court and on Petitioner Leon 16 Caril II’s Motion for an extension of time, construed by the Court as a Motion to continue the 17 stay of his federal habeas action filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Dkt. 27. 18 On April 8, 2024, the Court entered an Order directing service of the habeas Petition, but 19 also directing Respondent to respond only to the question of whether Petitioner has exhausted his 20 state court remedies as required for a § 2254 Petition. Dkt. 22. On April 12, 2024, Respondent 21 filed a Response indicating that Petitioner has not exhausted his state court remedies prior to 22 filing the § 2254 petition. Dkt. 24. Petitioner did not file a reply to the Response. See Dkt. 23 Thereafter, on May 15, 2024, the Court entered an Order staying the case and directing Petitioner 24 1 to file a status report every 90 days informing the Court of the status of his state court 2 proceedings. Dkt. 25. 3 On July 23, 2024, Petitioner filed the instant Motion. Dkt. 27. In the Motion, Petitioner 4 indicates that his proceedings remain pending in state court and requests that the Court continue

5 the stay of these habeas proceedings until the completion of those state court proceedings. Id. 6 Respondent has not responded to Petitioner’s Motion. See Dkt. 7 This Court may stay consideration of a habeas petition to allow a petitioner to exhaust his 8 remedies in state court before returning to federal court. See Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 69, 274– 9 79 (2005). Because Petitioner is still exhausting his state court remedies, the Court finds good 10 cause to grant Petitioner’s Motion. Thus, the Motion to continue the stay (Dkt. 27) is 11 GRANTED and the case shall remain STAYED. 12 Respondent is directed to FILE a report every 90 days informing the Court of the status 13 of Petitioner’s state court proceedings. The first status report is due on or before November 15, 14 2024, and shall include the state court cause number(s). If the state court dismisses or resolves

15 Petitioner’s state court proceedings, Petitioner or Respondent is directed to INFORM the Court 16 and FILE a motion to lift the stay within 30 days of the state court taking such action. 17 Respondent shall FILE its answer within 45 days after the stay is lifted. 18 Dated this 15th day of August, 2024. 19 A 20 21 Grady J. Leupold United States Magistrate Judge 22 23 24