Opinion
No. C 02-4638 CRB (PR)
September 27, 2002
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
Petitioner, a pre-trial detainee facing criminal charges in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Santa Clara, seeks a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 alleging violations of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, 18 U.S.C. App. 2 ("IAD"). See also Cal. Penal Code §§ 1389-1389.8.
Principles of comity and federalism require that this court abstain and not entertain petitioner's pre-sentence habeas challenge unless he shows that: (1) he has exhausted available state judicial remedies, and (2) "special circumstances" warrant federal intervention. Carden v. Montana, 626 F.2d 82, 83-84 (9th Cir. 1980). Only in cases of proven harassment or prosecutions undertaken by state officials in bad faith without hope of obtaining a valid conviction and perhaps in other special circumstances where irreparable injury can be shown is federal injunctive relief against pending state prosecutions appropriate. Id. at 84 (citingPerez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 85 (1971)). Petitioner makes no such showing of "special circumstances" warranting federal intervention. See id. He has not even exhausted state judicial remedies yet.
Accord Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Kentucky, 410 U.S. 484, 489-90 (1973) (prisoner in state custody must exhaust state judicial remedies before seeking any federal habeas relief for violations of IAD).
For the foregoing reasons, the petition is DISMISSED without prejudice to refiling after state criminal proceedings, including appeal, are completed.
The Clerk shall close the file and terminate all pending motions as moot.
SO ORDERED.