Johnson v. People for the State of California ( 2019 )

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 5 PAUL DAVID JOHNSON, P80888, Case No. 19-cv-04341-CRB (PR) 6 Petitioner, ORDER DISMISSING PETITION 7 v. FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS FOR FAILURE TO 8 || RON DAVIS, Warden, EXHAUST 9 Respondent. (ECF No. 3) 10 Petitioner, a state prisoner incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, seeks a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging the Alameda County Superior Court’s April 30, 2019 denial of his request to recall his indeterminate life sentence under recently-amended California 12 Penal Code section 1170(d). Prisoners in state custody who wish to challenge collaterally in 13 || federal habeas corpus proceedings either the fact or length of their confinement are first required 14 || to exhaust state judicial remedies, either on direct appeal or through collateral proceedings, by 3 15 || presenting the highest state court available with a fair opportunity to rule on the merits of each and A 16 every claim they seek to raise in federal court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)-(c). Petitioner has not E 7 done so. He has not presented the Supreme Court of California with an opportunity to consider 5 and rule on his claims. See O’Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838, 845 (1999) (state’s highest Z 18 court must be given opportunity to rule on claims even if review is discretionary). The petition for 19 |) a writ of habeas corpus therefore is DISMISSED without prejudice to filing a new petition after 20 |) state judicial remedies are exhausted. 21 Based on his affidavit of poverty, petitioner’s application to proceed in forma pauperis 27 under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (ECF No. 3) is GRANTED. The clerk shall close the file. 23 IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 || Dated: December 13, 2019 25 A fa > CHARLES R. BREYER 6 United States District Judge 27 28 1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 PAUL DAVID JOHNSON, 5 Case No. 3:19-cv-04341-CRB Plaintiff, 6 5 v. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE PEOPLE FOR THE STATE OF 8 || CALIFORNIA, 9 Defendant. 10 I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 11 District Court, Northern District of California. 13 That on December 13, 2019, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by 14 placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 15 depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(es) into an inter-office delivery 16 receptacle located in the Clerk's office. = 17 Z 18 Paul David Johnson ID: P-80888 San Quentin State Prison 2-N9UP 19 San Quentin, CA 94974 20 21 Dated: December 13, 2019 22 Susan Y. Soong 73 Clerk, United States District Court 24 By: ob tale 5 Lashanda Scott, Deputy Clerk to the Honorable CHARLES R. BREYER 26 27 28