(HC) Rogers v. Pfeiffer ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SPENCER EARL ROGERS, No. 1:20-cv-00142-NONE-JDP 12 Petitioner, ORDER DENYING PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR A STAY AND ABEYANCE AS 13 v. HAVING BEEN RENDERED MOOT 14 CHRISTIAN PFEIFFER, (Doc. Nos. 6, 8, 9) 15 Respondent. 16 17 In January 2020, Spencer Earl Rogers petitioned the court, through counsel, for a writ of 18 habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (Doc. No. 1.) Petitioner, who is currently incarcerated in 19 state prison, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in the Kern County 20 Superior Court in 2015. (Id. at 1, 7; Doc. No. 6 at 2.) 21 On April 24, 2020, petitioner moved for a stay and abeyance of his federal habeas petition 22 under Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 277 (2005) so that he could seek to exhaust his 23 unexhausted sentencing claim in state court. (Doc. No. 6.) Finding petitioner’s reasoning and 24 supporting showing to be insufficient to justify the granting of a stay, on June 11, 2020 the 25 assigned magistrate judge recommended that his motion for a stay and abeyance under Rhines be 26 denied. (Doc. No. 8.) Petitioner filed objections to those findings and recommendations on July 27 13, 2020. (Doc. No. 9.) On March 10, 2021, before the undersigned had issued an order 28 addressing those findings and recommendations, petitioner’s counsel filed a notice that on that 1 | same date stating that the California Supreme Court had denied his state habeas petition presented 2 | to that court and that his previously unexhausted sentencing claim had, as of that date, been 3 | exhausted. (Doc. No. 12.) The following day, March 11, 2011, petitioner filed a First Amended 4 | Petition in this federal habeas action, asserting only exhausted claims. 5 In light of the exhaustion of his previously unexhausted sentencing claim, petitioner’s 6 | April 24, 2020 motion for stay and abeyance has been rendered moot. 7 Accordingly: 8 1. Petitioner’s motion for a stay and abeyance of his original habeas petition (Doc. 9 No. 6) is DENIED as moot; 10 2. Because the motion for stay and abeyance has been rendered moot, the 11 undersigned DECLINES to adopt the June 11, 2020 findings and 12 recommendations (Doc. No. 8); 13 3. This federal habeas action shall proceed on petitioner’s First Amended Petition for 14 Writ of Habeas Corpus which was filed by his counsel on March 11, 2021 (Doc. 15 No. 14); and 16 4. This matter is referred back to the magistrate judge for proceedings consistent with 17 this order. 18 | IT IS SO ORDERED. si □ | Dated: _ April 2, 2021 Yola A Lange 20 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28