Charles Clemans, Jr. v. James Yates

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
FEB 21 2012
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
CHARLES TWAIN CLEMANS, Jr., No. 08-57051
Petitioner - Appellant,
D.C. No. 3:07-cv-01162-WQH
v.
JAMES A. YATES and EDMUND G. MEMORANDUM *
BROWN, Jr.,
Respondents - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
William Q. Hayes, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted February 21, 2012 **
Before: FERNANDEZ, McKEOWN, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.
California state prisoner Charles Twain Clemans, Jr. appeals pro se from the
district court’s judgment denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. We have
jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253, and we affirm.
Clemans argues that California Penal Code § 1191.3 and provisions in the
Department of Corrections’s operating manual give him the right to earn day-for-
day credits against his 28-year sentence. The state appellate court rejected this
claim, noting that Penal Code section 2933.1 caps Clemans’s ability to earn credits
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
at 15%. Clemans’s claim fails because federal habeas relief does not lie for
violations of state law, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a); Swarthout v. Cooke, 131 S. Ct.
859, 861 (2011) (per curiam), and, in any event, we are bound by the state court’s
interpretation of state law, see Mendez v. Small, 298 F.3d 1154, 1158 (9th Cir.
2002).
We construe Clemans’s additional arguments as a motion to expand the
certificate of appealability. So construed, the motion is denied. See 9th Cir. R.
22-1(e); see also Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1104-05 (9th Cir. 1999) (per
curiam).
Clemans’s request for a copy of the answering brief, received December 6,
2011, is deemed filed and is denied as moot. All other pending motions and
requests are deemed filed and are granted, and the amended reply received January
11, 2012, is deemed filed.
AFFIRMED.
2 08-57051