UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Gerard Joseph Bean

v. Civil No. 07-cv-328-JL

Larry Blaisdell, Warden,

Northern New Hampshire

Correctional Facility

O R D E R

Pending before this Court is Gerard Bean’s petition for a

writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The

Court received Bean’s original petition on November 29, 2007

(document no. 8). Bean filed addenda to his petition on December

7, 2007 (document no. 9), December 10, 2007 (document no. 10),

February 5, 2008 (document no. 17), March 4, 2008 (document no.

20), March 20, 2008 (document no. 21), June 9, 2008 (document no.

27), and June 23, 2008 (document no. 28). All of these documents

will be accepted and considered, in the aggregate, to constitute

Bean’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

On February 7, 2008 and again on May 1, 2008 (document nos.

18 & 22), Bean was directed to exhaust the claims raised in this

federal habeas petition in the state courts. Bean was

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specifically instructed to raise, in the state courts, each of

the claims that he wished to pursue here, including the federal

nature of each of those claims. Once the claims had been finally

ruled upon by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Bean was directed

to return to this Court, notify the Court of the exhaustion of

his claims, and also to file any paperwork necessary to

demonstrate that each claim, including the federal nature of each

claim, had been exhausted in his post-conviction proceedings. 

Bean has now asserted that his claims have been exhausted in

the state courts by state habeas corpus litigation in the Coos

County Superior Court in both 2006 and 2009. Bean states that he

filed appeals of each of the denials of his Coos County habeas

petitions, and that the New Hampshire Supreme Court, on both

occasions, denied him relief. Most recently, the New Hampshire

Supreme Court denied his appeal of the 2009 Coos County habeas

petition on September 16, 2009. 

On December 10, 2009, Bean asked this Court to lift the stay

in this matter (document no. 43). The Court granted the motion

and lifted the stay on December 11, 2009. Accordingly, the

matter is again before this Court for preliminary review to

determine, among other things, whether or not the petition is

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1Bean should note that, at this stage of review, I am not

conducting a review of the evidence Bean may utilize to prove the

claims raised in the petition. I am only examining the petition

itself to determine whether the federal claims contained therein

have been squarely presented to the state courts. Accordingly,

Bean need not submit to this Court every piece of paper he may

have filed in the state courts to prove his claims; he need only

submit the paperwork that shows that the claims themselves were

presented to the state courts.

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facially valid and may proceed. See Rule 4 of the Rules

Governing § 2254 Proceedings (requiring initial review to

determine whether the petition is facially valid); United States

District Court District of New Hampshire Local Rule 4.3(d)(2)

(authorizing the Magistrate Judge to preliminarily review pro se

pleadings). 

In order to conduct the preliminary review, this Court must

determine whether or not the petition demonstrates that the

federal habeas claims have been exhausted in the state courts as

Bean has claimed. For the Court to be able to make that

determination, Bean must submit the following documents to this

Court within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order:

1. The 2009 petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed in

the Coos County Superior Court, and all of the supporting

pleadings filed by petitioner to that matter1;

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2. The state’s filings, and the Coos County Superior

Court’s orders in regard to the 2009 habeas petition.

3. The notice of appeal, any appellate briefing documents,

and all of the supporting pleadings filed by the petitioner or

the respondent in the New Hampshire Supreme Court concerning the

2009 Coos County Superior Court habeas petition;

4. If any of the federal claims raised here were raised

and exhausted in the 2006 Coos County Superior Court habeas

petition, and appeal thereof, and not re-raised in the 2009

petition, Bean is directed to provide this Court with all of the

Superior Court and Supreme Court pleadings, supportive memoranda,

and orders from those Courts for the 2006 litigation.

SO ORDERED.

____________________________________

James R. Muirhead

United States Magistrate Judge

Date: December 14, 2009

cc: Gerard Joseph Bean, pro se

JM:jba

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