(HC)Casimino v. Gamboa

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: November 21, 2024
• Docket: 1:24-cv-01400
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 11 RAYMUNDO LOPEZ CASIMIRO, ) Case No.: 1:24-cv-01400-SKO (HC) ) 12 Petitioner, ) ORDER DISMISSING PETITION WITH LEAVE ) TO FILE A FIRST AMENDED PETITION 13 v. ) ) ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO 14 ) PROVIDE BLANK HABEAS FORM 15 MARTIN GAMBOA, Warden, ) ) [THIRTY DAY DEADLINE] 16 Respondent. ) ) 17 18 Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis with a petition for writ of 19 habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He filed the instant petition on November 15, 2024. 20 (Doc. 1.) A preliminary screening of the petition reveals it to be facially deficient in violation of Rule 21 2(c) of the Rules Governing 2254 Cases. Therefore, the Court will DISMISS the petition with leave to 22 file an amended petition. 23 I. DISCUSSION 24 A. Preliminary Review of Petition 25 Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases requires the Court to make a preliminary 26 review of each petition for writ of habeas corpus. The Court must summarily dismiss a petition “[i]f it 27 plainly appears from the petition and any attached exhibits that the petitioner is not entitled to relief in 28 the district court . . . .” Rule 4; O’Bremski v. Maass, 915 F.2d 418, 420 (9th Cir. 1990). The Advisory 1 Committee Notes to Rule 8 indicate that the Court may dismiss a petition for writ of habeas corpus, 2 either on its own motion under Rule 4, pursuant to the respondent’s motion to dismiss, or after an 3 answer to the petition has been filed. 4 B. Failure to State a Cognizable Federal Claim 5 Rule 2(c) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases requires that the petition: 6 (1) Specify all the grounds for relief available to the petitioner; (2) State the facts supporting each ground; 7 (3) State the relief requested; (4) Be printed, typewritten, or legibly handwritten; and 8 (5) Be signed under penalty of perjury by the petitioner or by a person authorized to sign it for the petitioner under 28 U.S.C. § 2242. 9

10 Here, Petitioner has failed to comply with Rule 2(c) by failing to specify and legibly set forth 11 his grounds for relief. The petition is 313 pages in length and is comprised of a form petition and 12 various attachments. The form petition is typed but the typeface is illegible with respect to grounds 13 three and four. (Doc. 1 at 9.) It appears the document has been copied or retyped several times causing 14 the print to blend together, thus rendering grounds three and four illegible. 15 In addition to the four grounds for relief that Petitioner attempts to set forth in his form 16 petition, he refers to additional claims he seeks to present and directs the Court’s attention to some 300 17 pages of pleadings and copies he has attached to the form petition. While courts should liberally 18 interpret pro se pleadings with leniency and understanding, this should not place on the reviewing 19 court the entire onus of ferreting out grounds for relief. Burkey v. Deeds, 824 F.Supp. 190, 193 20 (D.Nev.1993) (finding that courts do not have entire onus of creating federal claim for petitioner). 21 Rule 2(c) requires that claims and facts be stated with sufficient detail to enable the Court to 22 determine, from the face of the petition, whether further habeas corpus review is warranted. Adams v. 23 Armontrout, 897 F.2d 332, 334 (8th Cir.1990). Here, not only are the claims and facts buried within 24 hundreds of pages of documents, but the documents themselves are largely illegible – many pages are 25 printed sideways and reversed. The Court has neither the time nor the resources to cull through 26 hundreds of pages of attachments and exhibits to locate Petitioner’s claims for relief. 27 The petition is facially deficient and must be dismissed. Petitioner will be granted an 28 opportunity to file a First Amended Petition to present his claims in accordance with Rule 2(c). 1 Petitioner is directed to utilize the form petition. He is advised that he should entitle his pleading, 2 “First Amended Petition,” he should reference the instant case number, and he must specify his 3 ground(s) for relief, the facts supporting his ground(s), and the relief requested. The Court will not 4 accept references to other pleadings, documents, and exhibits as acceptable presentation of a claim. 5 Failure to comply with this order will result in dismissal of the action. 6 III. ORDER 7 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 8 1) The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for 9 failure to state a claim; 10 2) The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to provide Petitioner with a blank form for filing a 11 habeas petition; and 12 3) Petitioner is GRANTED thirty (30) days from the date of service of this order to file a First 13 Amended Petition. 14 15 IT IS SO ORDERED.

16 Dated: November 20, 2024 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . 17 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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