Nathaniel Harriel v. Breitenbach

Opinion

2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 4 NATHANIEL HARRIEL, Case No. 3:26-cv-00203-ART-CSD 5 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING 6 v. MOTION FOR A STAY

7 BREITENBACH,

8 Respondent.

9 Pro se Petitioner Nathaniel Harriel filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus 10 under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (ECF No. 1-2.) Following a review of the petition, the 11 Court directed Harriel to show cause why his petition should not be dismissed 12 without prejudice as unexhausted. (ECF No. 5.) In response, Harriel filed a motion 13 for a stay. (ECF No. 6.) 14 The Court is authorized to stay an unexhausted petition in “limited 15 circumstances” to allow a petitioner to present unexhausted claims to the state 16 court. Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 273–75 (2005); Mena v. Long, 813 F.3d 17 907, 912 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that district courts have authority to stay and 18 hold in abeyance both mixed petitions and “fully unexhausted petitions under 19 the circumstances set forth in Rhines”). Under the Rhines test, “a district court 20 must stay a mixed petition only if: (1) the petitioner has ‘good cause’ for his failure 21 to exhaust his claims in state court; (2) the unexhausted claims are potentially 22 meritorious; and (3) there is no indication that the petitioner intentionally 23 engaged in dilatory litigation tactics.” Wooten v. Kirkland, 540 F.3d 1019, 1023 24 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Rhines, 544 U.S. at 278). 25 The Court finds that a stay is appropriate given that (1) Harriel just filed 26 his state habeas petition, (2) Harriel’s premature federal petition amounts to a 27 protective petition, and (3) Harriel has not engaged in intentionally dilatory 28 1 || litigation tactics. 2 It is therefore ordered that the motion for stay [ECF No. 6] is granted. 3 It is further ordered that Harriel must move to reopen this action within 45 4 || days of the issuance of the remittitur by the Nevada Supreme Court at the 5 || conclusion of his state court proceedings. 6 It is further kindly ordered that the Clerk of Court stay and administratively 7 || close this action. 8 DATED THIS 6t day of April 2026. 9 10 en 11 An vs Powel 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28