Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_07-cv-00226/USCOURTS-caed-2_07-cv-00226-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2254 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (State)

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DANIEL J. BRODERICK, #89424

Federal Defender

MONICA KNOX, Bar #84555

Assistant Federal Defender

Designated Counsel for Service

801 I Street, 3rd Floor

Sacramento, California 95814

Telephone: (916) 498-5700

Attorneys for Petitioner 

EDMUND G. BROWN, Jr.

Attorney General of California

MARIA CHAN, Bar #

Deputy Attorney General

1300 I Street, Suite 125

P.O. Box 944255

Sacramento, California 94244

Telephone: (916) 323-1940

Attorneys for Respondent

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

FRANK LOPEZ, 

Petitioner,

v.

D.K. SISTO, Warden, 

Respondent.

 

 

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NO. CIV-S-07-0226 FCD CMK P

JOINT REQUEST FOR STAY OF THE

PROCEEDINGS; DECLARATION OF

MONICA KNOX; ORDER

Petitioner, Frank Lopez, by and through counsel, Assistant Federal Defender Monica

Knox, and Respondent, Warden D.K. Sisto, by and through counsel, Deputy Attorney General

Maria Chan, hereby make this joint request for a stay of the proceedings in this matter pending

petitioner’s challenge to a 2007 action by the Governor, reversing a Board of Parole Hearings

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Case 2:07-cv-00226-FCD-CMK Document 11 Filed 04/04/07 Page 1 of 5
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decision finding petitioner suitable for parole. This request is based on the attached

declaration of Monica Knox.

Respectfully submitted,

DANIEL BRODERICK

Federal Defender

Dated: April , 2007 /s/ Monica Knox 

MONICA KNOX

Assistant Federal Defender

Attorneys for Petitioner

EDMUND G. BROWN, Jr.

Attorney General of the State of California

Dated: April , 2007 /s/ Maria Chan 

MARIA CHAN

Deputy Attorney General

Attorneys for Respondent

Case 2:07-cv-00226-FCD-CMK Document 11 Filed 04/04/07 Page 2 of 5
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DECLARATION OF MONICA KNOX

I, Monica Knox, declare as follows:

I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of California and admitted to practice

in the Eastern District. I am an Assistant Federal Defender and, in that capacity, represent

petitioner in this matter.

Petitioner is a life prisoner in the state of California. He is serving a term of 16 years

to life for his 1980 conviction of second degree murder with the use of a knife. He has been

eligible for parole since 1990. In 2005, at petitioner’s ninth parole suitability hearing, the

Board of Parole Hearings found petitioner unsuitable for parole, as it had at all his prior

hearings. In this pending federal habeas proceeding, petitioner challenges that decision as

violating his constitutional rights.

Petitioner had a subsequent parole suitability hearing on October 19, 2006. At that

hearing, the Board found petitioner suitable for parole. On March 16, 2007, however, the

Governor reversed that decision. 

Petitioner will be filing a challenge to the Governor’s action in reversing the grant of

parole. If petitioner is successful in that challenge, he will be released from prison and the

pending matter will be moot.

I have thus discussed this matter with Deputy Attorney General Maria Chan, counsel

for respondent. We agree that, to conserve judicial and attorney resources, this matter should

be stayed pending resolution of petitioner’s challenge to the recent action by the Governor.

Pursuant to this Court’s February 21, 2007 order, the parties are to file a joint

scheduling statement by April 8, 2007. In light of the parties’ request that the matter be

stayed, Ms. Chan and I are filing the request for stay in lieu of the joint scheduling statement.

For the foregoing reasons, I request that this matter be stayed pending the resolution of

petitioner’s challenge to the March 2007 action by the Governor. I will notify the Court

within ten days of the resolution of that challenge.

Case 2:07-cv-00226-FCD-CMK Document 11 Filed 04/04/07 Page 3 of 5
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I declare under penalty of perjury the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed this 3rd day of April, 2007, at Sacramento, California.

/s/ Monica Knox 

MONICA KNOX 

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DANIEL J. BRODERICK, #89424

Federal Defender

MONICA KNOX, Bar #84555

Assistant Federal Defender

Designated Counsel for Service

801 I Street, 3rd Floor

Sacramento, California 95814

Telephone: (916) 498-5700

Attorneys for Petitioner

FRANK LOPEZ

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

FRANK LOPEZ, ,

Petitioner,

v.

D.K. SISTO, Warden, 

Respondent.

_______________________________

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NO. CIV-S-07-0226 FCD-CMK P

ORDER

GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, this matter is stayed pending resolution of petitioner’s

challenge to the 2007 action by the Governor in reversing the grant of parole. Petitioner is to

notify the Court within ten days of the resolution of that challenge.

DATED: April 3, 2007.

______________________________________

CRAIG M. KELLISON

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Case 2:07-cv-00226-FCD-CMK Document 11 Filed 04/04/07 Page 5 of 5