Marker v. Lathorp

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedApril 23, 2020
Docket1:18-cv-00719
StatusUnknown

This text of Marker v. Lathorp (Marker v. Lathorp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marker v. Lathorp, (D.N.M. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

WARREN BOYD MARKER,

Petitioner,

v. No. 1:18-cv-00719-JB-LF

FNU LATHORP, Warden, and ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO,

Respondents.

PROPOSED FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION THIS MATTER comes before the Court on petitioner Warren Boyd Marker’s Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody, filed July 26, 2018. Doc. 1. Respondents initially filed a limited answer addressing exhaustion, and they later filed an answer addressing the merits of Mr. Marker’s petition. Docs. 10, 12. United States District Judge James O. Browning referred this case to me to conduct hearings, if warranted, and to perform any legal analysis required to recommend to the Court an ultimate disposition. Doc. 2. Having considered the parties’ submissions, the relevant law, and the record in this case, I recommend denying Mr. Marker’s claims and dismissing this case with prejudice. I. Factual Background and Procedural History On May 1, 2014, a jury found Mr. Marker guilty of larceny (over $2500), unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, burglary of a vehicle, and criminal damage to property (under $1000). Doc. 10-1 at 1–3 (Ex. A).1 Mr. Marker was sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of eighteen and

1 The exhibits referenced are attached to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Limited Answer to Warren Marker’s Pro Se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. 10). The Court cites to the CM/ECF pagination rather than any internal page numbers in the exhibits. a half years, with six years suspended, for an actual term of imprisonment of twelve and a half years. Id. at 4. Mr. Marker appealed, and on August 10, 2016, the New Mexico Court of Appeals vacated Mr. Marker’s conviction for unlawful taking of a motor vehicle on double jeopardy grounds and remanded for resentencing. Doc. 10-1 at 91–98 (Exs. M and N). Mr. Marker was resentenced to a total term of imprisonment of thirteen years, with four years and

two months suspended, for an actual term of imprisonment of eight years and ten months. Doc. 10-1 at 7–10 (Ex. B). He was given credit for his pre-sentence confinement, time served since his original judgment and sentence, and all good-time credits received in prison. Id. at 8. On May 1, 2017, while still awaiting resentencing, Mr. Marker filed a petition in this Court for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. See Case No. 1:17-cv-00508-KG-LF, Doc. 1. He raised three arguments in his petition: (1) the state failed to preserve evidence; (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel; and (3) he was deprived of a speedy trial. Id. at 6– 10. Mr. Marker indicated in his petition that he had not raised these issues in his direct appeal, and that although he tried to file a state habeas petition two months earlier, the state “court

refused to receive [the] writ.” Id. at 3, 6–8. Mr. Marker stated he was now seeking federal habeas relief because he felt the state courts were “not responding” to him. Id. at 5. On September 27, 2017, I issued an order directing Mr. Marker to “show cause in writing why his § 2254 federal petition should not be dismissed for failure to exhaust state court remedies.” Case No. 1:17-cv-00508-KG-LF, Doc. 5 at 3. In response, Mr. Marker filed a motion seeking a 60-day extension of the show cause deadline. Case No. 1:17-cv-00508-KG- LF, Doc. 6. In his motion, Mr. Marker stated that after receiving the show cause order, he filed a state habeas petition with New Mexico’s Twelfth Judicial District Court on October 5, 2017,2 a copy of which the court returned to him with the file stamp “received for review” on “10-10-17.” Id. Although he was “hopeful that the [state habeas] process will continue to move forward,” Mr. Marker asked the Court to maintain its involvement for the 60 day continuance he is asking for. He is more than confident that at the end of the time requested[,] if the state court has not proceeded in accordance with Rule 5-802 NMRA[,] [governing the screening of habeas petitions] . . . [he] will be more than able to show cause why this Court should rule on the 2254 Petition.

Id. at 2. The Court denied Mr. Marker’s requested extension on the ground that it “cannot perform such oversight or otherwise rule on habeas claims that are simultaneously pending before a state court.” Case No. 1:17-cv-00508-KG-LF, Doc. 7 at 3. Because Mr. Marker had not exhausted his state court remedies and was now in the process of doing so, his first federal § 2254 petition was dismissed without prejudice. Id. at 3–4. In his state habeas petition, Mr. Marker raised the same three arguments as his § 2254 federal petition: (1) the state failed to preserve evidence; (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel; and (3) he was deprived of a speedy trial. Doc. 10-2 at 1–5 (Ex. O). Although the state district court received Mr. Marker’s habeas petition on October 10, 2017, the court did not docket the petition in a new case or in the original criminal proceeding. See Docket, No. D-

2 Although Mr. Marker indicated in the motion that he filed the state habeas petition on October 5, 2017, he verified under oath in his petition that he placed the petition in his correctional facility’s internal mail system on October 4, 2017. See Doc. 10-2 at 4–5 (Ex. O); see also Rule 5-802(F) NMRA (stating that a “petition is deemed to be filed with the clerk of the court on the day the petition is deposited in the institution’s internal mail system for forwarding to the court provided that the petitioner states within the petition, under penalty of perjury, the date on which the petition was deposited in the institution’s internal mail system”). 1226-CR-2013-00240.3 The court instead forwarded a copy of the petition to the state public defender department, which filed a notice on December 1, 2017, in Mr. Marker’s original criminal case recommending that the court deny the habeas petition because it “objectively fails to establish that any of [Mr. Marker’s] [c]onstitutional rights were violated during the proceedings that resulted in his conviction at jury trial.” Doc. 10-2 at 41 (Ex. P).

Beyond forwarding Mr. Marker’s petition to the public defender department for review, the state district court took no further action on the petition. After some months elapsed without any additional activity, Mr. Marker filed a pro se motion on February 20, 2018, seeking to dismiss his criminal convictions or modify his judgment and sentence to a sentence of time served with immediate release. Doc. 10-2 at 45–46 (Ex. Q). While awaiting a ruling from the district court on his state habeas petition and the motion to dismiss, Mr. Marker sought relief three times from the New Mexico Supreme Court. He first filed a petition on April 13, 2018, for a writ of superintending control and request for stay. Doc. 10-2 at 49–99 (Ex. S). That petition was denied on April 24, 2018. Doc. 10-2 at 100 (Ex. T).

The next month, Mr. Marker filed another petition—this time seeking a writ of mandamus. Doc. 10-2 at 101–20 (Ex. U). On May 23, 2018, the petition for a writ of mandamus was denied. Doc. 10-2 at 121 (Ex. V). He then filed a third petition—this time seeking a writ of certiorari

3 The Court has reviewed the official record in Mr. Marker’s state court proceedings through the New Mexico Supreme Court’s online Secured Odyssey Public Access (SOPA) system. The Court takes judicial notice of the official New Mexico court records in Mr. Marker’s state cases, No. D-1226-CR-2013-00240, No. M-32-FR-2012-00054, No. S-1-SC-36991, No. S-1-SC- 37050, and No. S-1-SC-37096. See United States v.

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Marker v. Lathorp, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marker-v-lathorp-nmd-2020.