Moore v. State of Washington

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 MARCUS M. MOORE, Case No. 3:25-cv-05542-JHC-TLF 7 Petitioner, v. ORDER 8 STATE OF WASHINGTON, 9 Respondent. 10

11 Petitioner Marcus Moore filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (“the Petition”) 12 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Dkt. 8. Having reviewed the petition, the Court declines to 13 order respondent1 to file an answer as the petition does not comply with the Rules 14 Governing Section 2254 Cases. The Court gives petitioner leave to file an amended 15 petition by October 3, 2025, to cure the problems identified in this Order. 16 Under Rule 2(c) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, the petition must: 17 (1) specify all the grounds for relief available to the petitioner; 18 (2) state the facts supporting each ground; 19

20 1 Petitioner names State of Washington as the respondent. The Court sua sponte will substitute the proper respondent, Rob Jackson. The State is not the proper respondent. “The proper respondent in a federal habeas corpus petition is the petitioner's ‘immediate custodian.’ ” Brittingham v. United States, 21 982 F.2d 378, 379 (9th Cir. 1992) (citation omitted); see also Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 434–35 (2004) (proper respondent to a habeas petition is “the person who has custody over the petitioner,” and 22 who has “the ability to produce the prisoner's body before the habeas court”); Rule 2(a) of Habeas Rules (“the petition must name as respondent the state officer who has custody”).The Washington Department 23 of Corrections’ website confirms that the current superintendent of Washington State Penitentiary is Rob Jackson. See Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) | Washington State Department of Corrections (last 24 accessed September 9, 2025). 1 (3) state the relief requested; 2 (4) be printed, typewritten, or legibly handwritten; and 3 (5) be signed under penalty of perjury by the petitioner or by a person authorized 4 to sign it for the petitioner under 28 U.S.C. § 2242. The petition must “substantially

5 follow” a form prescribed by the local district court or the form attached to the Rules 6 Governing Section 2254 Cases. Id. at Rule 2(d). 7 Here, the petition fails to substantially follow the Court’s 2254 form. He does not 8 provide supporting facts for each ground raised in this petition. For example, petitioner 9 states under “Grounds for Relief” his Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated, but 10 he does not present any facts to explain how his rights were violated. See Dkt. 8 at 2. 11 Further, petitioner does not state whether he has exhausted his available state 12 court remedies prior to filing his federal petition. See Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 13 275 (1971) (The exhaustion requirement is a matter of comity, intended to afford the 14 state courts “an initial opportunity to pass upon and correct alleged violations of its

15 prisoners’ federal rights.”). To obtain relief under § 2254, a petitioner must demonstrate 16 that each of his claims for federal habeas relief has been properly exhausted in the 17 state courts. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)-(c). 18 If petitioner intends to pursue this habeas action, he must file an amended 19 petition complying with Rule 2 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases on the form 20 provided by the Court. The amended petition must include all required information. The 21 amended petition must also be legibly rewritten or retyped in its entirety, it should be an 22 original and not a copy, it should contain the same case number, and it may not 23

24 1 incorporate any part of the original petition by reference. The amended petition will act 2 as a complete substitute for the original petition, and not as a supplement. 3 If Petitioner fails to adequately address the issues raised in this Order and does 4 not file an amended petition on or before October 3, 2025, the undersigned will

5 recommend dismissal of this action. 6 The Clerk is directed to provide petitioner with a copy of this Order and a copy of 7 the forms for filing a Petition for Habeas Corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. 8 Dated this 10th day of September, 2025. 9 10 A 11 Theresa L. Fricke 12 United States Magistrate Judge

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