Stevie Lamar FIELDS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Arthur CALDERON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee

125 F.3d 757, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7273, 97 Daily Journal DAR 11757, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 23737, 1997 WL 559469
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 10, 1997
Docket96-99014
StatusPublished
Cited by99 cases

This text of 125 F.3d 757 (Stevie Lamar FIELDS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Arthur CALDERON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stevie Lamar FIELDS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Arthur CALDERON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee, 125 F.3d 757, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7273, 97 Daily Journal DAR 11757, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 23737, 1997 WL 559469 (9th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Stevie Lamar Fields (“Fields”) appeals the district court’s order granting Warden Calderon’s (“the State’s”) motion to dismiss eleven claims contained in Fields’ second amended federal petition for writ of habeas corpus because they were declared procedurally defaulted by the California Supreme Court. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). We vacate and remand.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1979, Fields was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. 1 In 1983, his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the California Supreme Court on direct appeal. People v. Fields, 35 Cal.3d 329, 197 Cal.Rptr. 803, 673 P.2d 680 (1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 892, 105 S.Ct. 267, 83 L.Ed.2d 204 (1984).

In 1984, Fields filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court. After a hearing on the issue of whether Fields’ attorney provided ineffective assistance, the California Supreme Court denied the petition in 1990, holding that Fields suffered no prejudice from his attorney’s alleged incompetence. In re Fields, 51 Cal.3d 1063, 275 Cal.Rptr. 384, 800 P.2d 862 (1990), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 845, 112 S.Ct. 140, 116 L.Ed.2d 107 (1991).

On May 25, 1993, Fields filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in district court. On July 29, 1993, the California Supreme Court decided two cases that are critical to the resolution of this appeal: In re Clark, 5 Cal.4th 750, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 509, 855 P.2d 729 (1993), and In re Harris, 5 Cal.4th 813, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 373, 855 P.2d 391 (1993).

On August 2, 1993, Fields filed an amended federal habeas petition. The State moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds of procedural default. Finding unexhausted claims, the district court stayed federal proceedings on October 20, 1993, in order to allow Fields an opportunity to exhaust his state claims.

On January 14, 1994, Fields filed a second petition for writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court. The State moved for denial of the state petition on procedural grounds. On October 14,1994, the California Supreme Court denied Fields’ second state habeas petition. In the portion relevant to this appeal, the California Supreme Court ruled:

The following claims are denied on the procedural ground of untimeliness, in that they could have been, but were not, raised on appeal or in the first habeas corpus petition: the claims set forth in parts IX (A, B, E, F, G), X (B, C, F,‘ G, H, I), XV, XVIII, XXI (as to the claim relating to the instruction on suppression of evidence), XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXX, XXXI. (In re Harris (1993) 5 Cal.4th 813, 829, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 373, 855 P.2d 391; In re Dixon (1953) 41 Cal.2d 756, 759, 264 P.2d 513.) 2

On March 20, 1995, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Fields v. California, 514 U.S. 1022, 115 S.Ct. 1369, 131 L.Ed.2d 225 (1995).

On March 21, 1995, Fields filed a second amended habeas petition in the district court. On July 31, 1995, the State filed a motion to dismiss the claims denied by the California Supreme Court’s order due to procedural default. After a hearing, the district court granted the motion on June 10, 1996, and dismissed all of the claims to which the State had asserted a procedural bar. On July 30, 1996, the district court denied Fields’ motion for reconsideration and granted his motion for interlocutory appeal. On August 27, 1996, we granted Fields permission to take an interlocutory appeal of this dismissal order.

DISCUSSION

“The district court’s dismissal of the petition for writ of habeas corpus on the *760 ground of state procedural default involves an issue of law that we review de novo.” Morales v. Calderon, 85 F.3d 1387, 1389 n. 6 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 500, 136 L.Ed.2d 391 (1996). See also Hunter v. Aispuro, 982 F.2d 344, 346 (9th Cir.1992).

The issue for decision is whether the California Supreme Court’s Dixon rule serves as an adequate and independent state ground for its denial of eleven claims in Fields’ habeas petition. In Dixon, the California Supreme Court held:

The general rule is that habeas corpus cannot serve as a substitute for an appeal, and, in the absence of special circumstances constituting an excuse for failure to employ that remedy, the writ will not he where the claimed errors could have been, but were not, raised upon a timely appeal from a judgment of conviction.

Ex parte Dixon, 41 Cal.2d 756, 264 P.2d 513, 514-15 (1953) (In Bank) (citations omitted). If the Dixon rule provides an adequate and independent state ground for the California Supreme Court’s decision, Fields “has defaulted procedurally on the affected claims and cannot raise them in federal court unless he shows cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice.” Morales, 85 F.3d at 1389 (citing Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 750, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 2565, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991)). Because we conclude that the Dixon rule is not an adequate state ground to bar federal review of Fields’ defaulted claims, we will not address Fields’ alternative argument that the Dixon rule is not an independent state ground sufficient to bar federal review. 3

A. The Trigger Date

Before addressing the adequacy of the Dixon rule, we must first determine the proper date on which the rule’s adequacy is to be measured. The district court ruled that “[t]he Dixon rule was firmly established both at the time petitioner filed his second habeas petition [January 14,1994] and at the time of his direct appeal [1981].” The State argues that the correct trigger date is October 14,1994, the date on which the California Supreme Court denied Fields’ second state habeas petition where the procedural bar at issue was actually applied. Fields argues that the correct trigger date is 1981, the timo of his direct appeal, when the defaulted claims should have been raised. Our discussion of the 1981 date will demonstrate the flaw in the State’s reasoning.

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125 F.3d 757, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7273, 97 Daily Journal DAR 11757, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 23737, 1997 WL 559469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevie-lamar-fields-petitioner-appellant-v-arthur-calderon-warden-ca9-1997.