Opinion
3:19-cv-00576-MMD-CSD
04-26-2023
JERMAINE JAMAICA CAMPBELL, SR., Petitioner, v. WILLIAM GITTERE, et al., Respondents.
ORDER
MIRANDA M. DU, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
In this habeas corpus action, the Court resolved Respondents' motion to dismiss on December 16, 2021 (ECF No. 65), Respondents filed their answer on May 25, 2022 (ECF No. 75), and Petitioner Jermaine Jamaica Campbell, Sr. filed a reply on January 25, 2023 (ECF No. 90) and a corrected reply on February 10, 2023 (ECF No. 93). Respondents' response to the reply-the last of the briefing on the merits of Campbell's claims-was originally due on February 24, 2023 (ECF No. 9). The Court granted Respondents a 60-day extension, to April 25, 2023, for the response to the reply (ECF No. 96).
On April 25, 2023, Respondents filed a motion for extension of time (ECF No. 97), requesting a further 45-day extension, to June 9, 2023, for their response to Campbell's reply. Respondents' counsel states that the extension of time is necessary because of “an ongoing family medical emergency” and because she is “still contending with pressing medical/health issues and a significantly increased workload due to colleague departures.” (Id. at 2.) Respondents' counsel represents that Campbell, who is represented by appointed counsel, does not oppose the motion for extension of time.
The Court will grant this motion for extension of time. However, while the Court is mindful of the professional and personal challenges that counsel on both sides of this case have apparently faced, the briefing of the merits of Campbell's petition has taken too long. The Court has examined the amended petition, the answer, and the reply; the issues raised in this noncapital habeas corpus case are not unusually complex. But it will now have been a year and a half from the resolution of the motion to dismiss to the completion of the merits briefing. The scheduling order contemplated 135 days for that briefing. (ECF No. 9.) The Court cannot countenance any further delay in this case. The Court intends this to be the last extension of this deadline. The Court will not be inclined to grant any further extension of this deadline and will not be inclined to accept a response to Campbell's reply filed after June 9, 2023.
It is therefore ordered that Respondents' Motion for Enlargement of Time (ECF No. 97) is granted. Respondents will have until and including June 9, 2023, to file a response to Petitioner's reply.