Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_08-cv-02858/USCOURTS-cand-3_08-cv-02858-2/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Robert L. Ayers
Respondent
Jesse L. Reed
Petitioner

Document Text:

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JESSE L. REED, 

Petitioner,

v.

ROBERT L. AYERS, warden, 

Respondent. /

No. C 08-2858 MHP (pr)

ORDER OF DISMISSAL 

Petitioner was in custody serving a 25-to-life sentence on a 1985 conviction for first

degree murder when he filed this habeas action to challenge a June 22, 2007 decision by

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finding him unsuitable for parole. Respondent

has moved to dismiss the action on the ground that the petition is moot because petitioner

was released from prison on June 8, 2009. Petitioner has not opposed the motion. 

Petitioner's release from prison makes his habeas petition seeking such release moot. 

See Burnett v. Lampert, 432 F.3d 996, 999-1000 (9th Cir. 2005); Fendler v. United States

Bureau of Prisons, 846 F.2d 550, 555 (9th Cir. 1988). Petitions challenging criminal

convictions usually do not become moot upon a petitioner's release from custody because 

collateral consequences are presumed to flow from criminal convictions; the same rule does

not apply to a challenge to a denial of parole, as is the case here. Petitioner has not identified

any collateral consequences that keep this action from being considered moot, and the court

is unaware of any. Most notably, it does not appear that any habeas relief that could be

Case 3:08-cv-02858-MHP Document 12 Filed 01/08/10 Page 1 of 2
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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issued could affect the length of parole because the period of parole for petitioner apparently

will be for life. See Cal. Penal Code § 3000.1(a); 15 Cal. Code Regs. § 2515(f). 

For the foregoing reasons, respondent's motion to dismiss is GRANTED. (Docket #

11.) The petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is dismissed as moot.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: January 6, 2010 

Marilyn Hall Patel

United States District Judge

Case 3:08-cv-02858-MHP Document 12 Filed 01/08/10 Page 2 of 2