James Scott v. Kelly Santoro, Acting Warden

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: November 17, 2025
• Docket: 3:25-cv-05202
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 JAMES SCOTT, 5 Case No. 25-cv-05202-AMO (PR) Petitioner, 6 ORDER GRANTING IN FORMA v. PAUPERIS STATUS AND DIRECTING 7 RESPONDENT TO SHOW CAUSE KELLY SANTORO, Acting Warden, WHY THE PETITION SHOULD NOT 8 Respondent. BE GRANTED 9

10 Petitioner James Scott, a state prisoner, has filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus 11 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, representing himself. See Dkt. 12. The petitioner also seeks leave 12 to proceed in forma pauperis. It does not appear from the face of the petition that it is without 13 merit. Good cause appearing, the Court hereby issues the following orders: 14 1. The petitioner is GRANTED leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Dkts. 6, 7. 15 2. The Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order upon Respondent and 16 Respondent’s attorney, the Attorney General of the State of California, at the following email 17 addresses: SFAWTParalegals@doj.ca.gov and SFAGDocketing@doj.ca.gov. The petition and 18 the exhibits thereto are available via the Electronic Case Filing System for the Northern District of 19 California. The Clerk shall serve by mail a copy of this order on the petitioner. 20 3. Respondent shall file with this Court and serve upon the petitioner, within sixty 21 (60) days of the issuance of this Order, an Answer conforming in all respects to Rule 5 of the 22 Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, showing cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not be issued. Respondent shall file with the Answer a copy of all portions of the relevant state records 23 that have been transcribed previously and that are relevant to a determination of the issues 24 presented by the petition. 25 4. If the petitioner wishes to respond to the Answer, he shall do so by filing a Traverse 26 with the Court and serving it on Respondent within sixty (60) days of his receipt of the Answer. 27 1 || sixty (60) days after the date the petitioner is served with Respondent’s Answer. 2 5. Respondent may file with this Court and serve upon the petitioner, within sixty 3 (60) days of the issuance of this Order, a motion to dismiss on procedural grounds in lieu of an 4 || Answer, as set forth in the Advisory Committee Notes to Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section 5 2254 Cases. If Respondent files such a motion, the petitioner shall file with the Court and serve 6 on Respondent an opposition or statement of non-opposition to the motion within sixty (60) days 4 of receipt of the motion, and Respondent shall file with the Court and serve on the petitioner a g reply within fourteen (14) days of receipt of any opposition. 9 6. It is the petitioner’s responsibility to prosecute this case. The petitioner must keep 10 the Court and Respondent informed of any change of address and must comply with the Court’s orders in a timely fashion. Pursuant to Northern District Local Rule 3-11, a self-represented party whose address changes while an action is pending must promptly file a notice of change of E address specifying the new address. See L.R. 3-11(a). The Court may dismiss without prejudice a = petition when: (1) mail directed to the self-represented party by the Court has been returned to the Court as not deliverable, and (2) the Court fails to receive within sixty days of this return a written 1S communication from the self-represented party indicating a current address. See L.R. 3-11(b); see 16 also Martinez v. Johnson, 104 F.3d 769, 772 (Sth Cir. 1997) (Rule 41(b) applicable in habeas cases). The petitioner must also serve on Respondent’s counsel all communications with the 18 Court by mailing a true copy of the document to Respondent’s counsel. 19 7. Upon showing of good cause, requests for a reasonable extension of time will be 20 || granted provided they are filed on or before the deadline they seek to extend. 21 8. Kelly Santoro, the current acting warden of the prison where the petitioner is 22 || incarcerated, has been substituted as Respondent pursuant to Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of 23 Civil Procedure. 24 9. This Order terminates Docket Nos. 6 and 7. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 || Dated: November 17, 2025 □ 1 (Anacek dh □ ARACELI MARTINEZ-OLGUIN 28 United States District Judge