(HC) Sisounthone v. Neuschmid

District Court, E.D. California·Decided April 26, 2023·No. 2:18-cv-03181·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 VANNA SISOUNTHONE, No. 2:18-cv-3181 DAD AC P 12 Petitioner, 13 v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 ROBERT NEUSHCMID, Warden, 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, seeks a writ of habeas 18 corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The case was referred to a United States Magistrate Judge 19 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. 20 Before the court is respondent’s motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds that it 21 contains unexhausted claims. ECF No. 10. The motion is fully briefed. See ECF Nos. 15 22 (petitioner’s opposition), 16 (respondent’s reply). Also before the court is petitioner’s request for 23 an extension of time to file (1) “objections” to the court’s “findings and recommendations” and 24 (2) a request for a certificate of appealability. ECF No. 25. 25 I. PETITIONER’S MOTION 26 Petitioner requests extended time to object to findings and recommendations, ECF No. 25 27 at 1, but no findings and recommendations were pending in this case at the time the motion was 28 filed. In light of the content of the motion and the procedural history of the case, the court has 1 construed petitioner’s filing as a request for an extension of time to file a second motion for 2 reconsideration of its November 2022 order inviting petitioner to either file a motion for a stay 3 pending exhaustion or dismiss his unexhausted claims. See ECF No. 20 (order dated November 4 8, 2022), ECF No. 24 (order denying reconsideration). Those options were offered to petitioner 5 as voluntary alternatives to a recommendation that apparently unexhausted claims be dismissed. 6 Id. The motion for extended time will be denied, and petitioner will be provided the opportunity 7 to object to the findings and recommendations on the exhaustion issue which issue for the first 8 time below. 9 Petitioner also seeks extended time to file an application for a certificate of appealability. 10 ECF No. 25 at 1. Because there has been no final order in this case, and the findings and 11 recommendations that issue below do not propose final disposition of the case, there is no current 12 or imminent certificate of appealability deadline to extend. Any request for a certificate of 13 appealability must be brought after the court issues a final order at the conclusion of district court 14 proceedings in the case. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(a), (c)(1)(A). 15 II. RESPONDENT’S MOTION TO DISMISS 16 A. Overview 17 Respondent contends that the petition should be dismissed because Claims One, Three and 18 Four, as well as certain factual allegations and any putative claims based on them, are 19 unexhausted. ECF No. 10. Petitioner argues in opposition that he exhausted all claims in the 20 California Court of Appeal except for Claims Five and Six, which were withdrawn by appellate 21 counsel. ECF No. 15 at 2-3.1 Petitioner notes that the California Supreme Court “denied the 22 request to review the Appellate Court’s decision.” Id. at 3. He appears to argue that these facts 23 demonstrate exhaustion. 24 B. Exhaustion Requirement 25 The exhaustion of available state remedies is a prerequisite to a federal court’s jurisdiction 26 to consider claims presented in a habeas corpus petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b); Rose v. 27 1 Petitioner’s references to “Claims Five and Six” must reflect the numbering of claims on appeal 28 in state court, as the federal petition does not contain any Claims Five and Six. 1 Lundy, 455 U.S. 509 (1982). A petitioner satisfies the exhaustion requirement by providing the 2 highest state court with a full and fair opportunity to consider all of his claims before presenting 3 them to the federal court. Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 276 (1971); Middleton v. Cupp, 768 4 F.2d 1083, 1086 (9th Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1021 (1986). A federal claim is fairly 5 presented if the petitioner has described the operative facts and the federal legal theory upon 6 which his claim is based. See Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365-366 (1995) (per curiam); 7 Wooten v. Kirkland, 540 F.3d 1019, 1025 (9th Cir. 2008); cert. denied, 556 U.S. 1285 (2009). 8 “Federal courts may not adjudicate mixed habeas petitions, that is, those containing both 9 exhausted and unexhausted claims.” Henderson v. Johnson, 710 F. 3d 873, 873 (9th Cir. 2013) 10 (citing Rose, 455 U.S. at 518-19). If a federal petition includes unexhausted claims, the petitioner 11 must be permitted to delete the unexhausted claims and proceed with the exhausted ones. See 12 Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 222 (2007) (citing Rhines, supra, 544 U.S. at 278); Butler v. Long, 13 752 F.3d 1177, 1180 (9th Cir. 2014); see Kelly, 315 F.3d at 1069-70 (reversing dismissal of 14 mixed petition so court could offer petitioner opportunity to dismiss unexhausted claims and 15 proceed to merits of others). “If a stay is not appropriate, the well-established rule that the district 16 court is not to retain jurisdiction over mixed petitions applies.” Wooten v. Kirkland, 540 F.3d 17 1019, 1026 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Olvera v. Giurbino, 371 F.3d 569, 572 (9th Cir. 2004)). 18 C. Relevant Procedural History 19 1. Trial Court 20 Petitioner was charged in Sacramento County with multiple counts arising from the armed 21 robberies of three convenience stores. The perpetrator of the three robberies wore a clown mask, 22 and the primary issue at trial was petitioner’s identity as the robber. On August 13, 2014, a jury 23 found petitioner guilty of three counts of second-degree robbery in violation of California Penal 24 Code § 211; one count of assault with a firearm (Penal Code § 245(a)(2)); two counts of false 25 imprisonment (Penal Code § 236); and two counts of attempted second-degree robbery. ECF 26 Nos. 11-1 at 1, 11-8 at 1.2 Multiple firearm enhancements (Penal Code §§ 12022.5(a)(1), 27 2 The original abstract of judgment states that petitioner was convicted of burglary on Counts 28 (continued…) 1 12022.53(b), (c)) and a prior conviction (Penal Code 667.5(b)) were found to be true. See id. 2 Petitioner was sentenced to fifty-seven years, four months in prison. Id. 3 2. State Post-Conviction Proceedings 4 Petitioner timely appealed, raising eight claims of error. See ECF No. 11-2 at 1-2.3 On 5 October 30, 2017, the appellate court ruled that the trial court had erred by failing to obtain 6 petitioner’s waiver of a jury trial as to a new prior conviction allegation. Id. All of petitioner’s 7 other allegations of error were determined to be without merit. Id. The judgment was 8 accordingly affirmed as modified.4 Id. at 22-23. 9 On or around November 30, 2017, petitioner filed a petition for review in the California 10 Supreme Court. ECF No. 11-3.

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