Opinion ID: 782172
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Loguercio Case

Text: 46 On January 6, 1988, Richard Ford and Robert Anthony Von Villas, both former Los Angeles police officers, were convicted of conspiring to murder John Loguercio and attempting to murder his wife in violation of California Penal Code §§ 182, 187, 664, and robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and assault with a firearm in violation of California Penal Code §§ 182, 211, 245(a)(2). Ford was also convicted of attempting to administer an intoxicating agent in violation of California Penal Code §§ 222, 664. On March 11, 1988, he was sentenced to thirty-six years to life in prison. 47 Ford appealed the judgment and, on October 9, 1992, the California Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction. He appealed to the California Supreme Court, but his petition for review was denied on January 14, 1993. He then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on June 14, 1993. See Ford v. California, 508 U.S. 975, 113 S.Ct. 2970, 125 L.Ed.2d 669 (1993). 48 On April 19, 1997, Ford signed and delivered to the prison authorities a pro se federal habeas corpus petition. His petition was forwarded to the clerk and filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on May 5, 1997. 2 Ford also filed a motion to stay the federal habeas corpus petition containing exhausted grounds while he exhausted the then-unexhausted state claims. The magistrate judge, realizing that some of Ford's claims had not been exhausted, issued an order giving him the choice of either (1) dismissing the petition without prejudice and re-filing after exhaustion of the unexhausted claims or (2) dismissing the unexhausted claims and proceeding with only the exhausted claims. Under the magistrate's order, if Ford wanted to waive the unexhausted claims and proceed only on the exhausted claims, he was to so notify the court. On July 28, 1997, Ford instead opted to have the petition dismissed in order to exhaust his unexhausted claims. As a result, on August 5, 1997 the magistrate judge issued his report recommending that the district court dismiss the habeas petition without prejudice because it was a partially-exhausted petition under Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 522, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982). In his report and recommendations, the magistrate judge stated that the court did not have the discretion to grant Ford's motion for a stay because the court could not stay a mixed petition. On September 11, 1997, the district court adopted the magistrate's report and dismissed Ford's petition, purportedly without prejudice. 49 On September 29, 1997, Ford filed a state habeas corpus petition in the California Supreme Court. His petition was summarily denied on March 25, 1998. Ford then returned to federal court on April 7, 1998 and filed a second pro se federal habeas corpus petition in the district court. 3 On April 29, 1998, the state filed an answer and, on June 5, 1998, the state filed a motion to dismiss Ford's petition as untimely under AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations. On June 17, 1998, Ford filed an opposition to the motion. On June 26, 1998, the magistrate issued a report recommending that Ford's petition be dismissed with prejudice as untimely. Ford filed an objection to the report on July 16, 1998. On July 22, 1998, the district judge adopted the magistrate's report and dismissed the petition as time-barred. 50 On August 17, 1998, Ford filed a notice of appeal and moved for a certificate of appealability (COA). The district court denied his motion for a COA on August 25, 1998. Ford then sought a COA from this court and his motion was consolidated with a similar motion that he filed in the Weed case. See infra Section I.C.