(HC) Odom v. De La Cruz

District Court, E.D. California·Decided November 4, 2019·No. 2:17-cv-00233·Unknown

Opinion

RYAN BIGOSKI ODOM, No. 2:17-cv-0233 JAM AC P Petitioner, v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS D.G. ADAMS, Warden, Respondent. Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with an application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The action proceeds on the first amended petition filed on January 2, 2019,1 which challenges petitioner’s 2013 conviction for torture and first-degree murder, with special circumstances of kidnapping with intent to kill and intentional murder involving the infliction of torture. ECF No. 25-1 at 1; ECF No. 27-1 at 9. I. Factual and Procedural Background A. Direct Review Petitioner appealed her conviction to the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate

1 Because petitioner is a prisoner proceeding pro se, she is entitled to the benefit of the prison mailbox rule. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988) (establishing rule that a prisoner’s court document is deemed filed on the date the prisoner delivered the document to prison officials for mailing). However, the first amended petition was not dated, so the court must rely on the date the petition was received by the Clerk of the Court. District raising five grounds for relief. ECF No. 25-1 at 16-122. The Court of Appeal modified the judgment to add one additional day of custody credit—thereby granting the relief requested in the fifth claim—and otherwise affirmed the judgment as modified on January 26, 2016. ECF No. 27-1 at 2-25. Petitioner then proceeded to file a petition for review in the California Supreme Court, which contained only two of the five original claims. ECF No. 27-1 at 27-51. Review was subsequently denied on April 20, 2016. ECF No. 27-1 at 81. Petitioner did not petition the United States Supreme Court for certiorari. ECF No. 25-1 at 3. B. State Habeas Petition While her direct appeal was pending, petitioner filed two pro se petitions for writ of habeas corpus in the Solano County Superior Court. ECF No. 25 at 18. One petition was denied on August 25, 2014, while the other was denied on November 19, 2014. Id. Petitioner’s next pro se state habeas petition was filed with the Solano County Superior Court on December 15, 2017.2 ECF No. 27-1 at 83. The petition was denied on February 7, 2018. Id. at 83-88. Petitioner proceeded to file a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District (id. at 90-258), which was denied on May 10, 2018 (id. at 260). Petitioner then filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court, which was denied without comment on November 2, 2018. ECF No. 25 at 2. C. Federal Habeas Petition On January 26, 2017, Petitioner filed her original habeas application in this court raising four grounds for relief. ECF No. 1. Before any briefing on the claims took place, Petitioner moved for and was granted a stay under Kelly v. Small, 315 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2003), in order to exhaust additional claims. ECF Nos. 13, 15. After the stay was lifted, Petitioner filed an amended petition on January 2, 2019. ECF No. 25. As originally filed, the amended petition merely supplemented the original petition, rather than standing on its own. However, due to the 2 Neither party has provided a copy of the petition, and respondent instead relies on the information contained in the superior court’s order denying the petition for the filing date. However, petitioner has affirmed that the dates her petitions were filed and denied, as identified by respondent, appear accurate. ECF No. 29 at 1. length of both petitions, the court did not require Petitioner to file a single amended petition that contained all of her claims. Instead, the Clerk of the Court was directed to attach the original petition to the first amended petition. ECF No. 26. As a result, the amended petition contained seven claims for relief—the four claims contained in the original petition, plus three additional claims. ECF No. 25. Thus, Claims One through Four of the original petition make up Claims One through Four of the first amended petition (ECF No. 25-1), while the new claims added by the supplemental petition will hereafter be referred to as Claims Five, Six, and Seven (ECF No. 25). After being ordered to respond to the amended petition as construed by the court (ECF No. 26), respondent filed a motion to dismiss arguing that Claims Two and Four are unexhausted, while Claims Five through Seven are procedurally defaulted because they were denied as untimely in state court. ECF No. 27. Petitioner opposes the motion. ECF No. 29. In his reply, respondent concedes that Claims Five through Seven were not denied as untimely in state court and offers alternate grounds for dismissing the claims.3 ECF No. 30. Petitioner filed a sur-reply addressing the new arguments. ECF No. 31. II. Motion to Dismiss Respondent has moved to dismiss Claims Two and Four as unexhausted, Claims Five and Six as procedurally barred as successive, and Claim Seven as untimely. ECF Nos. 27, 30. A. Exhaustion The exhaustion of state court remedies is a prerequisite to the granting of a petition for writ of habeas corpus unless “there is an absence of available State corrective process” or circumstances make the process ineffective to protect a petitioner’s rights. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1). If exhaustion is to be waived, it must be waived explicitly by respondent’s counsel. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(3).4 A waiver of exhaustion, thus, may not be implied or inferred. This

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