Kavon William Cry v. Patwin Horn

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedSeptember 29, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-00921
StatusUnknown

This text of Kavon William Cry v. Patwin Horn (Kavon William Cry v. Patwin Horn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kavon William Cry v. Patwin Horn, (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KAVON WILLIAM CRY, No. 2:24-cv-0921 TLN AC P 12 Petitioner, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 PATWIN HORN, 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se on a petition for a writ of habeas corpus 18 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Currently pending before the court are respondent’s motion to 19 dismiss the petition as partially unexhausted and petitioner’s motion to stay. ECF Nos. 15, 17. 20 I. Factual Background and Procedural History 21 On July 19, 2016, petitioner was convicted in Sacramento County Superior Court of first- 22 degree murder and second-degree attempted robbery with robbery-murder special circumstances. 23 ECF No. 5 at 1; ECF No. 13-1 (Lod. Doc. 1). He was sentenced to life without the possibility of 24 parole for the murder, plus twenty-five years to life for the enhancement, and the sentence for the 25 attempted robbery was stayed. ECF No. 13-1. 26 Petitioner, through counsel, appealed his conviction to the California Court of Appeal, 27 Third Appellate District on multiple grounds. ECF No. 5 at 2, 6. On February 14, 2020, the 28 California Court of Appeal affirmed petitioner’s conviction but remanded the matter to the trial 1 court to determine whether to strike the firearm enhancement in the interest of justice. ECF No. 2 13-2 (Lod. Doc. 2) at 67. 3 Petitioner then filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court seeking relief 4 on the following grounds: (1) the trial court violated petitioner’s Sixth and Fourteenth 5 Amendment rights by barring spectators who interacted with jurors from the courthouse without 6 taking further action to investigate the matter; (2) the trial court violated petitioner’s Sixth 7 Amendment right to a public trial when it excluded spectators without determining if their 8 exclusion was necessary; (3) there was insufficient evidence to show petitioner intended to rob 9 the victim before he shot the victim, violating petitioner’s Fourteenth Amendment rights; (4) the 10 trial court violated petitioner’s Sixth Amendment rights when it failed to instruct on various 11 defenses against robbery; (5) petitioner’s Fourteenth Amendment right to present a complete 12 defense was violated when the trial court failed to provide a unanimity instruction on the theory 13 of murder; and (6) the trial court violated petitioner’s Fourteenth Amendment rights by failing to 14 instruct the jury to decide unanimously on what act constituted attempted robbery. ECF No. 13-3 15 (Lod. Doc. 3). On May 27, 2020, the California Supreme Court denied the petition for review. 16 ECF No. 13-4 (Lod. Doc. 4). 17 On remand on the sentencing issue, the trial court denied petitioner’s request to strike his 18 firearm enhancement. ECF No. 13-5 (Lod. Doc. 5) at 1. Petitioner appealed, and the Court of 19 Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision. Id. at 6. Petitioner proceeded to file a petition for 20 review with the California Supreme Court on the grounds that the lower court failed to consider 21 an applicable factor when deciding whether to strike the enhancement. ECF No. 13-6 (Lod. Doc. 22 6). On March 15, 2023, the California Supreme Court denied the petition for review. ECF No. 23 13-7 (Lod. Doc. 7). 24 Petitioner did not petition the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, ECF No. 5 at 2, 25 and his conviction therefore became final on June 13, 2023, see Zepeda v. Walker, 581 F.3d 26 1013, 1016 (9th Cir. 2009) (“The period of direct review after which a conviction becomes final 27 includes the 90 days during which the state prisoner can seek a writ of certiorari from the United 28 States Supreme Court.” (citation omitted)). 1 The petition in this case was originally filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and was 2 ordered filed in this court with a filing date of March 10, 2024. ECF No. 1. Petitioner raised a 3 single claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on the grounds that trial counsel failed to 4 investigate evidence that would have assisted his defense. ECF No. 2 at 1. Because the petition 5 lacked information identifying the conviction at issue, petitioner was ordered to file an amended 6 petition, which he filed on May 8, 2024.1 ECF No. 5. The amended petition seeks relief on the 7 following grounds: (1) ineffective assistance of counsel due to failure to investigate evidence and 8 prepare an adequate defense; (2) the prosecution failed to disclose evidence favorable to the 9 defense when it did not process fingernail scrapings from the victim; (3) his sentence for life 10 without the possibility of parole violated the Eighth Amendment because the crime was 11 committed thirty-nine days after he turned eighteen; and (4) the court erred in instructing the jury 12 it did not have to unanimously agree on the theory of murder. Id. at 4-5. 13 Upon being ordered to respond to the petition, respondent filed a motion to dismiss the 14 petition as partially unexhausted. ECF No. 15. Following respondent’s motion to dismiss, the 15 court issued a notice to petitioner advising him of the exhaustion requirement and the legal 16 standards for staying a habeas case. ECF No. 16. Petitioner was further advised that “[n]othing 17 in this notice prevents you from returning to state court while there is a pending motion to dismiss 18 your federal petition based on lack of exhaustion.” Id. at 2. Petitioner opposed the motion and 19 moved for stay and abeyance. ECF Nos. 17, 20. 20 After briefing on the motions was complete, it came to the court’s attention that petitioner 21 had filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court which was denied 22 on July 30, 2025. ECF No. 22. Because the state supreme court’s denial of the petition 23 potentially mooted the pending motions, the parties were directed to submit supplemental briefs 24 addressing whether the state petition in California Supreme Court Case No. S290401 exhausted 25 his claims. Id. Supplemental briefing is now complete. ECF Nos. 23, 25. 26 1 Since petitioner is a prisoner proceeding pro se, he is afforded the benefit of the prison mailbox 27 rule. Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988) (establishing rule that a prisoner’s court document is deemed filed on the date the prisoner delivered the document to prison officials for 28 mailing). 1 II. Motion to Dismiss 2 A. Parties’ Positions 3 Respondent moved to dismiss the entire petition on the ground that it is a mixed petition 4 because Claims One through Three had not been exhausted since they had never been presented 5 to the California Supreme Court. ECF No. 15. In the alternative, respondent argued that 6 petitioner must delete Claims One through Three and proceed only on Claim Four, which was the 7 sole exhausted claim. Id. Petitioner conceded that Claims One through Three had not been 8 exhausted but opposed the motion to dismiss on the ground that he had moved for a stay under 9 Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005). ECF Nos. 17, 20. Respondent objected to a stay under 10 Rhines. ECF No. 18. 11 Petitioner has now filed a supplemental brief asserting that Claims One through Three are 12 now exhausted and requests that the motion to dismiss be denied. ECF No. 23. The brief is not 13 accompanied by a copy of the petition,2 but petitioner summarizes the claims raised therein and 14 attaches a copy of the state court’s order denying the petition. Id. In response, respondent argues 15 that Claim Three remains unexhausted and the motion to dismiss should nonetheless be granted 16 because claims must be exhausted prior to filing. ECF No. 25. 17 B.

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Bluebook (online)
Kavon William Cry v. Patwin Horn, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kavon-william-cry-v-patwin-horn-caed-2025.