Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_14-cv-01500/USCOURTS-caed-2_14-cv-01500-1/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Leonon James Alston
Petitioner
J. Macomber
Respondent

Document Text:

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LEONON JAMES ALSTON,

Petitioner,

v.

J. MACOMBER,

Respondent.

No. 2:14-cv-1500 JAM KJN P

ORDER AND FINDINGS AND 

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. Introduction

Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel and in forma pauperis. By order 

filed June 27, 2014, petitioner was granted leave to file a motion for stay and abeyance. On July 

24, 2014, petitioner filed a motion to stay this action pursuant to Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 

276 (2005).

This action is proceeding on the original petition filed June 24, 2014. Petitioner concedes 

that his petition contains unexhausted claims, known as a “mixed” petition, and seeks to stay this 

case pending exhaustion of his state court remedies. Petitioner claims that his first ground is 

exhausted, but grounds two through four are not exhausted. For the following reasons, the 

undersigned recommends that the motion for stay be granted. 

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II. Motion for Stay

A. Stay and Abeyance Procedures

Two procedures are available to federal habeas petitioners who wish to proceed with 

exhausted and unexhausted claims for relief. The “Kelly procedure,” outlined in Kelly v. Small, 

315 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2003), has been described by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to 

involve the following three-step process:

(1) petitioner amends his petition to delete any unexhausted claims, 

(2) the court stays and holds in abeyance the amended, fully 

exhausted petition, allowing petitioner the opportunity to proceed to 

state court to exhaust the deleted claims, and (3) petitioner later 

amends his petition and re-attaches the newly-exhausted claims to 

the original petition.

King v. Ryan, 564 F.3d 1133, 1135 (9th Cir. 2009). A petitioner who proceeds under Kelly will 

be able to amend his petition with newly exhausted claims if they are timely under the statute of 

limitations governing the filing of federal habeas petitions. If a petitioner’s newly-exhausted 

claims are untimely, he will be able to amend his petition to include them only if they share a 

“common core of operative facts” with the claims in the original federal petition. In this regard, 

the Kelly procedure, unlike the alternative procedure discussed below, is a riskier one for a 

habeas petitioner because it does not protect a petitioner’s unexhausted claims from expiring 

during a stay and becoming time-barred. See King, 564 F.3d at 1140-41; see also Duncan v. 

Walker, 533 U.S. 167, 172-75, (2001) (unlike the filing of a state habeas petition, the filing of a 

federal habeas petition does not toll the statute of limitations).

In the second procedure, under Rhines, a federal petition containing both exhausted and 

unexhausted claims may be stayed if: (1) petitioner demonstrates good cause for the failure to 

have first exhausted the claims in state court, (2) the claim or claims at issue potentially have 

merit, and (3) petitioner has not been dilatory in pursuing the litigation. Id., 544 U.S. at 277-78. 

Under the Rhines procedure, the petitioner may proceed on a “mixed petition,” i.e., one 

containing both exhausted and unexhausted claims, and his unexhausted claims remain pending in 

federal court while he returns to state court to exhaust them. See King, 564 F.3d at 1140; Jackson 

v. Roe, 425 F.3d 654, 660 (9th Cir. 2005) (“Rhines concluded that a district court has discretion 

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to stay a mixed petition to allow a petitioner time to return to state court to present unexhausted 

claims.”). 

A petitioner who proceeds under Rhines can, in many instances, avoid a statute of 

limitations problem with respect to his unexhausted claims. See King, 564 F.3d at 1140. 

However, the requirements are more stringent for the granting of a stay under Rhines, as 

compared to Kelly. The Supreme Court has cautioned that a “stay and abeyance [under the 

Rhines procedure] should be available only in limited circumstances,” and “district courts should 

place reasonable time limits on a petitioner’s trip to state court and back.” Rhines, 544 U.S. at 

277-78.1

The decisions in both Kelly and Rhines “are directed at solving the same problem --

namely, the interplay between AEDPA’s one-year statute of limitations and the total exhaustion 

requirement first articulated in Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509 (1982).” King, 564 F.3d at 1136.

B. Petitioner’s Motion

As set forth above, petitioner specifically seeks to stay this case under Rhines. 

Petitioner concedes that claims two, three and four are not exhausted. Petitioner states that he 

wanted appellate counsel to raise additional issues in the petition for review, but that appellate 

counsel concluded there was only one legitimate ground for appeal, which is the exhausted claim 

in ground one. (ECF No. 7 at 2.) Petitioner alleges that he “was only recently made aware of a 

recourse available after the California Supreme Court disposition where he could raise additional 

grounds other than those raised by his attorney on direct appeal, by petitioning the court of his 

conviction.” (ECF No. 7 at 2-3.) Petitioner acknowledges that ignorance of the law is no 

defense, but claims his counsel informed him that his only authority was “choosing whether or 

not to accept a plea bargain . . . and whether or not to testify on his own behalf.” (ECF No. 7 at 

3.) 

Petitioner also argues that these claims have merit, and that at present he has no pending 

actions in state court regarding the three unexhausted claims. (ECF No. 7 at 8-9.)

 

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 The Kelly procedure, which remains available after Rhines, does not require a showing of good 

cause. King, 564 F.3d at 1140.

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Recently, the Ninth Circuit addressed the issue of good cause under Rhines:

There is little authority on what constitutes good cause to excuse a 

petitioner's failure to exhaust. In Rhines, the Supreme Court did 

not explain the standard with precision. See 544 U.S. at 275-78, 

125 S. Ct. 1528. The Court has since addressed the meaning of 

good cause in only one other case, recognizing in dicta that “[a] 

petitioner's reasonable confusion about whether a state filing would 

be timely will ordinarily constitute ‘good cause’ “ to excuse his 

failure to exhaust. Pace v. DiGuglielmo, 544 U .S. 408, 416, 125 S. 

Ct. 1807, 161 L.Ed.2d 669 (2005) (citing Rhines, 544 U.S. at 278, 

125 S. Ct. 1528).

Similarly, our cases on the meaning of good cause under Rhines are 

also sparse. In Jackson v. Roe, 425 F.3d 654 (9th Cir.2005), we 

held that good cause does not require a showing of “extraordinary 

circumstances.” Id. at 661-62. In Wooten v. Kirkland, 540 F.3d 

1019 (9th Cir. 2008), we held that a petitioner did not establish 

good cause simply by alleging that he was “under the impression” 

that his claim was exhausted. Id. at 1024. We explained that 

accepting as good cause the mere “lack of knowledge” that a claim 

was exhausted “would render stay-and-abey orders routine” 

because “virtually every habeas petitioner” represented by counsel 

could assert that he was unaware of his attorney’s failure to 

exhaust. Id.

Blake v. Baker, 745 F.3d 977, 981-82 (9th Cir. 2014). The Ninth Circuit concluded that the 

Rhines standard for cause based on ineffective assistance of counsel “cannot be any more 

demanding” than the cause standard required to excuse the procedural default of a habeas claim, 

as set forth in Martinez v. Ryan, 132 S. Ct. 1309 (2012). Blake, 745 F.3d at 983-84.

Previously, several district courts had similarly concluded that the good cause standard is 

more generous than the showing needed for “cause” to excuse a procedural default. See, e.g., 

Rhines v. Weber, 408 F.Supp.2d 844, 849 (D. S.D. 2005) (applying the Supreme Court’s mandate 

on remand and collecting cases). Another district court held that the Rhines good cause standard 

requires the petitioner to show that he was prevented from raising 

the claim, either by his own ignorance or confusion about the law or 

the status of his case, by circumstances over which he had no 

control, such as actions by counsel, either in contravention of the 

petitioner’s clearly expressed desire to raise the claim, or when 

petitioner had no knowledge of the claim's existence. 

Riner v. Crawford, 415 F.Supp 2d 1207, 1211 (D. Nev. 2006). Subsequently, in Wooten, the 

Ninth Circuit found that the prisoner’s ignorance was unjustified because his counsel had mailed

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him a copy of his state petition, which did not include the unexhausted claim, and he did not 

claim his counsel was ineffective for failing to include the claim. Id., 540 F.3d at 1024 n.2. 

Here, petitioner contends that he wanted appellate counsel to raise the unexhausted claims 

but that counsel informed him that plaintiff’s decision-making was limited, and that only she 

could decide what claims would be raised on appeal. Petitioner states that he only recently 

discovered he could raise these unexhausted claims on his own in state court. Thus, petitioner’s 

facts are more aligned with those in Riner. His reliance upon the advice of counsel was 

reasonable and excuses his lack of diligence or ignorance. The undersigned finds petitioner has 

demonstrated good cause.

The court turns now to the merits of petitioner’s claims. Petitioner was convicted of first 

degree residential burglary on November 16, 2011. (ECF No. 1 at 1.) Petitioner seeks to exhaust 

claims two through four: insufficient evidence to prove intent; it was error to admit the gloves on 

rebuttal because the gloves were the only evidence used to prove intent; and the eyewitness 

knowingly made false statements under oath. 

The Ninth Circuit has held that a federal court may deny an unexhausted claim on the 

merits only when it is perfectly clear that the petitioner does not raise even a colorable federal 

claim. Cassett v. Stewart, 406 F.3d 614, 624 (9th Cir. 2005). Therefore, if a petitioner states a 

colorable claim, the claim is not plainly meritless. Here, petitioner’s unexhausted claims two and 

four appear to be at least “colorable;” thus, such claims are not plainly meritless under Rhines’ 

second prong. 

Finally, nothing in the petitioner’s filings demonstrate that petitioner has engaged in 

intentionally dilatory tactics. 

For all of the above reasons, the undersigned recommends that petitioner’s motion for stay 

be granted. However, petitioner must, without delay, pursue his claims through petitions for writ 

of habeas corpus filed in state court. “[D]istrict courts should place reasonable time limits on a 

petitioner’s trip to state court and back.” Rhines, 544 U.S. at 277-78. Petitioner should 

immediately file his state court habeas petition so that the stay of this action is not unduly 

delayed. Within thirty days from the date of any order by the California Supreme Court 

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addressing petitioner’s unexhausted claims, petitioner shall file a motion to lift the stay of this 

action. 

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that petitioner is granted leave to proceed in 

forma pauperis; and

IT IS RECOMMENDED that:

1. Petitioner’s motion for stay (ECF No. 7) be granted; 

2. Petitioner be directed to file a motion to lift the stay of this action within thirty days 

from the date of any order by the California Supreme Court addressing petitioner’s habeas 

petition; and 

3. The Clerk of the Court be directed to administratively close this case.

These findings and recommendations are submitted to the United States District Judge 

assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(l). Within fourteen days 

after being served with these findings and recommendations, petitioner may file written 

objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned 

“Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendations.” Petitioner is advised that 

failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the District 

Court’s order. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991).

Dated: August 11, 2014

/alst1500.stay

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