Morales v. Frauenheim

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN JOSE DIVISION 11 ERNESTO VEGA MORALES Case No. 20-CV-02949-LHK 12 Plaintiff, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE 13 v. 14 SCOTT FRAUENHEIM, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 Before the Court are two petitions for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Ernesto Vega 18 Morales (“Petitioner”). First, on March 3, 2020, Petitioner filed a pro se petition for a writ of 19 habeas corpus. See Case No. 20-CV-01567-LHK, ECF No. 1 (“Pro Se Petition”). Then, on April 20 29, 2020, Petitioner filed a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus through counsel. ECF No. 1 21 (“Counseled Petition”). 22 Because "[f]ederal courts . . . retain broad powers to prevent duplicative or unnecessary 23 litigation," the Court will not permit petitioner to concurrently pursue two habeas petitions with 24 overlapping claims. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 478, 489 (2000) (acknowledging that 25 “vexatious” habeas petitions may be dismissed). Moreover, if the Court were to rule on 26 Petitioner’s Pro Se Petition, his Counseled Petition may be barred unless a court of appeals grants 27 leave to file a second or successive petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). 1 On March 5, 2021, the Court ordered Petitioner to respond to the Court’s questions and 2 state whether Petitioner planned to proceed with the Pro Se Petition or the Counseled Petition 3 within 14 days. ECF No. 5. On March 16, 2021, counsel for Petitioner requested an extension of 4 31 days until April 19, 2021 to file a response. ECF No. 6. On March 18, 2021, the Court granted 5 the requested extension. ECF No. 7. As of today, May 14, 2021, the Court has not received a 6 response to the Court’s March 5, 2021 Order. 7 Therefore, Petitioner is hereby ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why this case should not 8 be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9 41(b). Petitioner shall file a written response to this Order to Show Cause by May 21, 2021. 10 Failure to respond to this Order to Show Cause by May 21, 2021 will result in dismissal of this 11 action without prejudice for failure to prosecute. An order in this case does not affect Petitioner’s 12 separately filed Pro Se Petition. 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. 14 15 Dated: May 14, 2021 16 ______________________________________ LUCY H. KOH 17 United States District Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27