Castro-Lino v. Haynes

Opinion

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5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 9 10 JOSE RAFAEL CASTRO-LINO, CASE NO. 3:19-cv-05405 BHS-JRC 11 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION 12 v. TO FILE REPLY 13 RON HAYNES, 14 Respondent. 15 16 This matter is before the Court on petitioner’s “Motion For Extension of Time to file 17 opening Brief[.]” Dkt. 21. 18 After petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, 19 respondent filed an answer that failed to address one of petitioner’s grounds and that did not 20 include the entire relevant state court record. See Dkt. 17, at 1–2. Thus the Court ordered 21 respondent to expand the record and to file a supplemental answer regarding the unaddressed 22 ground for relief. See Dkt. 17, at 2. The Court further allowed petitioner until November 8, 23 2019 to file a reply. Dkt. 17, at 2. 24 1 After petitioner timely filed a supplemental answer and the trial transcripts (see Dkts. 19, 2 20), petitioner filed the pending motion, requesting “a 60 day extension to file [his] opening brief 3 [sic].” Dkt. 21. Petitioner’s stated reason for the extension is that he lacks legal training and has 4 limited law library access. Dkt. 21, at 1. Respondent has not filed any opposition to the request.

5 See Dkt. 6 The Court interprets petitioner’s request as one to have the deadline to file a reply to 7 respondent’s response and supplemental answer extended. See Dkts. 14, 19. The request is 8 granted. Petitioner may file a reply to respondent’s response (Dkt. 14) and supplemental answer. 9 Dkt. 19. If petitioner decides to file a reply, it must be directed toward the arguments raised in 10 respondent’s response and supplemental answer. In a reply, petitioner may not raise additional 11 grounds to those raised in his habeas petition. See Cacoperdo v. Demosthenes, 37 F.3d 504, 507 12 (9th Cir. 1994) (“A Traverse [reply] is not the proper pleading to raise additional grounds for 13 relief.”). 14 The Clerk shall update the docket to reflect that petitioner may file a reply directed to

15 respondent’s response (Dkt. 14) and supplemental answer (Dkt. 19) on or before January 7, 16 2020. Petitioner’s writ of habeas corpus (Dkt. 3) should be re-noted for consideration on 17 January 7, 2020. 18 Dated this 18th day of November, 2019. 19

20 A 21 J. Richard Creatura 22 United States Magistrate Judge