(HC) Lane v. Superior Court, County of Sacramento, CA ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DEMORRIS LANE, No. 2:19-cv-02320 TLN DB P 12 Petitioner, 13 v. ORDER 14 SUPERIOR COURT, COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, CA, 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner, proceeding pro se, has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 18 U.S.C. § 2254. At the time petitioner filed this petition, petitioner was a civilly committed 19 pretrial detainee housed in county jail. (ECF No. 8 at 3-4.) Petitioner seeks to challenge his 2019 20 civil commitment. Presently before the court is petitioner’s first amended petition for screening. 21 (ECF No. 8.) 22 EXHAUSTION REQUIREMENT 23 I. Legal Standards 24 Rule 4 of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases requires the court to make a preliminary 25 review of each petition for writ of habeas corpus. The court must dismiss a petition "[i]f it plainly 26 appears from the petition . . . that the petitioner is not entitled to relief." Rule 4, Rules Governing 27 § 2254 Cases; Hendricks v. Vasquez, 908 F.2d 490 (9th Cir. 1990). Otherwise, the Court will 28 order respondent to respond to the petition. Rule 5, Rules Governing § 2254 Cases. 1 A petitioner who is in state custody and wishes to challenge his conviction by a petition 2 for writ of habeas corpus must have exhausted state judicial remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1). 3 The exhaustion doctrine is based on comity to the state court and gives the state court the initial 4 opportunity to correct the state’s alleged constitutional deprivations. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 5 U.S. 722, 731 (1991); Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 518 (1982); Buffalo v. Sunn, 854 F.2d 1158, 6 1163 (9th Cir. 1988). 7 A petitioner can satisfy the exhaustion requirement by providing the highest state court 8 with a full and fair opportunity to consider each claim before presenting it to the federal court. 9 Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365 (1995); Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 276 (1971); 10 Johnson v. Zenon, 88 F.3d 828, 829 (9th Cir. 1996). A federal court will find that the highest 11 state court was given a full and fair opportunity to hear a claim if the petitioner has presented the 12 highest state court with the claim’s factual and legal bases. Duncan, 513 U.S. at 365 (legal basis); 13 Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes, 504 U.S. 1, 9 (1992) (factual basis). 14 II. Petitioner’s First Amended Petition 15 Upon review of the petitioner’s first amended petition for writ of habeas corpus (ECF No. 16 8) and available court records1, it appears that petitioner has not presented his claim regarding his 17 civil commitment to the highest state court, the California Supreme Court. If he has not presented 18 these claims to the California Supreme Court, the petition must be dismissed without prejudice to 19 its renewal after petitioner has exhausted his claims. If petitioner has presented his claim 20 regarding his civil commitment to the California Supreme Court, petitioner must inform this court 21 that he has exhausted his state court remedies. Without knowing what claims, if any, have been 22 presented to the California Supreme Court, the court is unable to proceed to the merits of the 23 petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1). 24 //// 25 //// 26 //// 27 1 Publicly available case records from the California Supreme Court, can be located at 28 https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search.cfm?dist=0. 1 CONCLUSION 2 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED as follows: 3 1. Within thirty (30) days of the date of this order, petitioner must inform the court 4 whether he has presented any federal constitutional claims regarding his civil 5 commitment to the California Supreme Court. If possible, petitioner should provide 6 the court with a copy of the petition filed in the California Supreme Court along with a 7 copy of any ruling made by the California Supreme Court. 8 2. Plaintiff is warned that failure to comply with this order will result in a 9 recommendation that this action be dismissed. 10 | Dated: June 4, 2021 11 12 13 ORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 DB:14 20 | DB:1/Prisoner/Habeas/S/lane2320.osc 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28