Mitchell v. Jackson

Opinion

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3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 10 JAMES MITCHELL, CASE NO. C20-5623JLR 11 Petitioner, ORDER v. 12 ERIC JACKSON, 13 Respondent. 14

15 This matter comes before the court on remand from the Ninth Circuit. (See 9th 16 Cir. Order (Dkt. # 24).) On December 1, 2020, the court adopted Magistrate Judge J. 17 Richard Creatura’s report and recommendation recommending that the court deny 18 Petitioner James Mitchell’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus and 19 entered a judgment denying Mr. Mitchell’s petition. (See R&R (Dkt. # 11); 1/1/20 Order 20 (Dkt. # 14); Judgment (Dkt. # 15).) Mr. Mitchell appealed the court’s denial of his 21 habeas petition. (Not. of Appeal (Dkt. # 16).) While the appeal was pending, Mr. 22 Mitchell’s counsel moved to voluntarily dismiss the appeal because Mr. Mitchell had 1 passed away. (See 9th Cir. Order.) The Ninth Circuit granted Mr. Mitchell’s counsel’s 2 motion to dismiss, dismissed Mr. Mitchell’s appeal as moot, and remanded the case to

3 this court “for further proceedings as may be required, including vacatur of prior orders 4 and dismissal of the petition as moot.” (Id. (first citing McMann v. Ross, 396 U.S. 118 5 (1969) (per curiam); and then citing United States v. Orona, 987 F.3d 892, 893 (9th Cir. 6 2021)).) 7 Pursuant to the Ninth Circuit’s remand order, the court VACATES its prior order 8 (Dkt. # 14) and judgment (Dkt. # 15) denying Mr. Mitchell’s habeas petition,

9 DISMISSES Mr. Mitchell’s habeas petition (Dkt. # 1) as moot, and DIRECTS the Clerk 10 to close this case. 11 Dated this 18th day of February, 2022. 12 A 13 14 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22