(HC) Thurman v. Johnson ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 Kenneth Lloyd Thurman, No. 2:20-cv-00079-KJM-EFB 12 Petitioner, 13 ORDER v. 14 Raymond Johnson, 15 Respondent. 16 17 18 Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding without counsel, moves for reconsideration of this 19 court’s September 1, 2021 order adopting the magistrate judge’s findings and recommendations. 20 Mot., ECF No. 37. The court denied petitioner’s December 21, 2020 “objection to dismissal of 21 juror misconduct claim,” see ECF No. 26, which this court construed as a motion made under 22 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). See ECF No. 35. Having considered petitioner’s request, 23 the court finds no reason to reconsider its previous order adopting the magistrate judge’s 24 recommendation. 25 A court may relieve a party from an order under Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil 26 Procedure for “mistake, inadvertence, fraud, or excusable neglect” or for “any other reason that 27 justifies relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(1), (b)(6). Here, petitioner’s sole ground for relief is the 28 same as in his original petition for writ of habeas corpus where he alleges the state trial court did 1 | not remove a juror who was overheard making potentially biased comments prior to deliberations. 2 | See generally Petition, ECF No. 1. In adopting the magistrate judge’s original findings and 3 | recommendations addressing this claim, this court accepted the conclusion that “reasonable minds 4 | reviewing the record might disagree” and gave deference to the trial court’s finding that the juror 5 | im question had not pre-judged the case and was not biased. See Order, ECF No. 21; F&Rs (May 6 | 5, 2020) at 15, ECF No. 18 (citing Rice v. Collins, 546 U.S. 333, 341-42 (2006) and Marshall v. 7 | Lonberger, 459 U.S. 422, 434 (1983)). There is no basis for revisiting that conclusion now. 8 | Accordingly, petitioner’s motion for reconsideration is denied with prejudice. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 This order resolves ECF No. 37. 11 DATED: September 29, 2021. 12 13 4 CHIEF ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28