(HC) Barefield v. Covello

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: April 25, 2025
• Docket: 2:24-cv-00945
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL S. BAREFIELD, SR., No. 2:24-cv-0945 CKD P 12 Petitioner, 13 v. ORDER 14 PATRICK COVELLO, 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner is proceeding with an application for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 18 2254. The petition is submitted to the court for decision. On January 27, 2025, petitioner filed a 19 motion for release on his own recognizance pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3143. However, that statute 20 applies to federal prisoners, not California state prisoners. 21 The Ninth Circuit has “not yet decided whether district courts have the authority to grant 22 bail pending resolution of a habeas petition.” United States v. McCandless, 841 F.3d 819, 822 23 (9th Cir. 2016). However, assuming district courts have such authority, “[t]o qualify for pre- 24 decisional release from state prison pending a federal habeas petition, a petitioner [would have to] 25 show that the habeas petition has a high probability of success and that special circumstances 26 justify his release.” Centofanti v. Neven, 820 F. App'x 555, 556 (9th Cir. 2020). 27 The court has reviewed petitioner’s habeas petition and respondent’s answer. While the 28 court is not prejudging the merits of petitioner’s claims, the court finds there is not a high 1 | probability that a writ of habeas corpus will be granted. There are no glaring errors of law 2 || presented in the petition, nor does petitioner point to exculpatory evidence obtained post-trial. 3 || Further, respondent opposes all of petitioner’s claims and that does not appear to be in bad faith. 4 | Finally, all of petitioner’s claims were either rejected by California courts or were not presented 5 || to California courts rendering habeas relief unavailable as to those claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 6 || 2254(b)(1) (exhaustion of state court remedies is a prerequisite to the granting of a petition for 7 || writ of habeas corpus). 8 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that petitioner’s January 27, 2025 motion for 9 || release on his own recognizance or bail (ECF No. 17) is denied. 10 | Dated: April 25, 2025 / aa LaF / ip a i CAROLYN K DELANEY 12 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 | 4 7 bare0945.or

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