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Meredith v. Supreme Court of State

United States District Court, E.D. California
Jul 20, 2010
No. 2:10-cv-1395-JFM (HC) (E.D. Cal. Jul. 20, 2010)

Opinion

No. 2:10-cv-1395-JFM (HC).

July 20, 2010


ORDER


Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, together with a request to proceed in forma pauperis.

Examination of the in forma pauperis affidavit reveals that petitioner is unable to afford the costs of suit. Accordingly, the request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted.See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a).

"A petitioner for habeas corpus relief must name the state officer having custody of him or her as the respondent to the petition," Stanley v. California Supreme Court, 21 F.3d 359, 360 (9th Cir. 1994), and the court is required to consider sua sponte whether the named respondents have the power to provide the relief sought in a habeas corpus action. See Smith v. Idaho, 392 F.3d 350, 355 n. 3 (9th Cir. 2004). Petitioner has named the Supreme Court of the State of California, County of Sacramento, and the People of the State of California as the respondents in this action. These are not the proper respondents in this action. Instead, petitioner must name as respondent the warden of the prison where he is incarcerated. Accordingly, the instant petition must be dismissed with leave to amend. See Stanley, 21 F.3d at 360.

In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

1. Petitioner's request to proceed in forma pauperis is granted;

2. Petitioner's application for writ of habeas corpus is dismissed with leave to file an amended petition within thirty days from the date of this order;

3. Any amended petition must be filed on the form employed by this court, must name the proper respondent, and must state all claims and prayers for relief on the form. It must bear the case number assigned to this action and must bear the title "Amended Petition"; and

4. The Clerk of the Court is directed to send petitioner the form for habeas corpus application.

PETITION UNDER 28 U.S.C. § 2254 FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS BY A PERSON IN STATE CUSTODY

(If petitioner is attacking a judgment which imposed a sentence to be served in the future, petitioner must fill in the name of the state where the judgment was entered. If petitioner seeks to attack a sentence to be served in the future under a federal judgment, petitioner should file a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 in the federal court that entered the judgment.)

PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS BY A PERSON IN STATE CUSTODY Instructions — Read Carefully

You must keep the Clerk of the Court informed of any change of address. If you fail to do so, the Clerk cannot be responsible for your failure to receive Court orders. This could result in the dismissal of your suit. st (1) This petition must be legibly handwritten or typewritten and signed by the petitioner under penalty of perjury. Any false statement of a material fact may serve as the basis for prosecution and conviction for perjury. All questions must be answered concisely in the proper space on the form. (2) Additional pages are not permitted except with respect to the facts which you rely upon to support your grounds for relief. No citation of authorities need be furnished. If briefs or oral arguments are submitted, they should be submitted in the form of a separate memorandum. (3) Upon receipt of a filing fee of $5.00 your petition will be filed if it is in proper order. (4) If you do not have the necessary funds for transcripts, counsel, appeal, and other costs connected with this petition, you may request permission to proceed in forma pauperis, in which event you must complete and execute the Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis by a Prisoner appended to this petition. You must have a prison or jail official complete the Certification section on the back of the application. If you submit an incomplete application, your request to proceed in forma pauperis will be denied. (5) Only judgments entered by one court may be challenged in a single petition. If you seek to challenge judgments entered by different courts either in the same state or in different states, you must file separate petitions as to each court. (6) You must include all grounds for relief and all facts supporting such grounds for relief in the petition you file seeking relief from any judgment of conviction. (7) When the petition is fully completed, mail the original and at least two copies to: Clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California 501 I Street, Room 4-400 Sacramento, California 95814 (8) Once the petition is filed, the court will review it and decide whether to order service of the petition on the respondent(s). You will be sent a copy of any order the court issues. Because of the large volume of cases filed by inmates pending in this court, the court WILL NOT ANSWER INQUIRIES concerning the status of your petition. Please be advised that the court does not provide copies of documents to litigants. Copies of any volume may be obtained from Attorney's Diversified Services (ADS): 1424 21 Street, Sacramento, California 95814. Their phone number is 916-441-4396. We will, however, provide copies of the dockets at the rate of fifty cents ($0.50) per page. Checks in the exact amount are made payable to "Clerk, USDC." In forma pauperis status does not waive the cost of copies. Therefore you must keep copies of all documents submitted to the court for your own records.

PETITION UNDER 28 USC § 2254 FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS BY A PERSON IN STATE CUSTODY

PETITION not concisely briefly the facts facts CAUTION: In order to proceed in the federal court, you must ordinarily first exhaust your available state court remedies as to each ground on which you request action by the federal court. If you fail to set forth all grounds in this petition, you may be barred from presenting additional grounds at a later date. you should raise in this petition all available grounds briefly briefly briefly briefly briefly United States District Court District Name Prisoner No. Case No. Place of Confinement Name of Petitioner (include name under which convicted) Name of Respondent (authorized person having custody of petitioner) v. The Attorney General of the State of: 1. Name and location of court which entered the judgment of conviction under attack ________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Date of judgment of conviction __________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Length of sentence ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Nature of offense involved (all counts) _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. What was your plea? (Check one) (a) Not guilty [] (b) Guilty [] (c) Nolo contendere [] If you entered a guilty plea to one count or indictment, and a not guilty plea to another count or indictment, give details: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. If you pleaded not guilty, what kind of trial did you have? (Check one) (a) Jury [] (b) Judge only [] 7. Did you testify at the trial? Yes [] No [] 8. Did you appeal from the judgment of conviction? Yes [] No [] 9. If you did appeal, answer the following: (a) Name of court _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) Result ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) Date of result and citation, if known _______________________________________________________________________________ (d) Grounds raised ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (e) If you sought further review of the decision on appeal by a higher state court, please answer the following: (1) Name of court ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (2) Result __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (3) Date of result and citation, if known ___________________________________________________________________________ (4) Grounds raised __________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (f) If you filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, please answer the following with respect to each direct appeal: (1) Name of court ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (2) Result __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (3) Date of result and citation, if known ___________________________________________________________________________ (4) Grounds raised __________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Other than a direct appeal from the judgment of conviction and sentence, have you previously filed any petitions, applications, or motions with respect to this judgment in any court, state or federal? Yes [] No [] 11. If your answer to 10 was "yes," give the following information: (a)(1) Name of court ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (2) Nature of proceeding ____________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (3) Grounds raised __________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (4) Did you receive an evidentiary hearing on your petition, application or motion? Yes [] No [] (5) Result __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (6) Date of result __________________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) As to any second petition, application or motion give the same information: (1) Name of court ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (2) Nature of proceeding ____________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (3) Grounds raised __________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (4) Did you receive an evidentiary hearing on your petition, application or motion? Yes [] No [] (5) Result __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (6) Date of result __________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) Did you appeal to the highest state court having jurisdiction the result of action taken on any petition, application or motion? (1) First petition, etc. Yes [] No [] (2) Second petition, Yes [] No [] (d) If you did appeal from the adverse action on any petition, application or motion, explain briefly why you did not: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12. State every ground on which you claim that you are being held unlawfully. Summarize supporting each ground. If necessary, you may attach pages stating additional grounds and supporting same. For your information, the following is a list of the most frequently raised grounds for relief in habeas corpus proceedings. Each statement preceded by a letter constitutes a separate ground for possible relief. You may raise any grounds which you may have other than those listed if you have exhausted your state court remedies with respect to them. However, (relating to this conviction) on which you base your allegations that you are being held in custody unlawfully. Do not check any of these listed grounds. If you select one or more of these grounds for relief, you must allege facts. The petition will be returned to you if you merely check (a) through (j) or any one of these grounds. (a) Conviction obtained by plea of guilty which was unlawfully induced or not made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea. (b) Conviction obtained by use of coerced confession. (c) Conviction obtained by use of evidence gained pursuant to an unconstitutional search and seizure. (d) Conviction obtained by use of evidence obtained pursuant to an unlawful arrest. (e) Conviction obtained by a violation of the privilege against self-incrimination. (f) Conviction obtained by the unconstitutional failure of the prosecution to disclose to the defendant evidence favorable to the defendant (g) Conviction obtained by a violation of the protection against double jeopardy. (h) Conviction obtained by action of a grand or petit jury which was unconstitutionally selected and impaneled. (I) Denial of effective assistance of counsel. (j) Denial of right of appeal. A. Ground one: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Supporting FACTS (state without citing cases or law) __________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ B. Ground two: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Supporting FACTS (state without citing cases or law): _________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ C. Ground three: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Supporting FACTS (state without citing cases or law): ________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ D. Ground four: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Supporting FACTS (state without citing cases or law): ________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13. If any of the grounds listed in 12A, B, C, and D were not previously presented in any other court, state or federal, state what grounds were not so presented, and give your reasons for not presenting them: ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. Do you have any petition or appeal now pending in any court, either state or federal, as to the judgment under attack? Yes [] No [] 15. Give the name and address, if known, of each attorney who represented you in the following stages of the judgment attacked herein: (a) At preliminary hearing ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) At arraignment and plea ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) At trial __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (d) At sentencing _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (e) On appeal _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (f) In any post-conviction proceeding _________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (g) On appeal from any adverse ruling in a post-conviction proceeding _________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. Were you sentenced on more than one count of an indictment, or on more than one indictment, in the same court and at the same time? Yes [] No [] 17. Do you have any future sentence to serve after you complete the sentence imposed by the judgment under attack? Yes [] No [] (a) If so, give name and location of court which imposed sentence to be served in the future: _________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) Give date and length of the above sentence: _______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) Have you filed, or do you contemplate filing, any petition attacking the judgment which imposed the sentence to be served in the future? Yes [] No [] Wherefore, petitioner prays that the Court grant petitioner relief to which he may be entitled in this proceeding. _______________________________________________ Signature of Attorney (if any) I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed _______________________________________ (date) ________________________________________________ Signature of Petitioner


Summaries of

Meredith v. Supreme Court of State

United States District Court, E.D. California
Jul 20, 2010
No. 2:10-cv-1395-JFM (HC) (E.D. Cal. Jul. 20, 2010)
Case details for

Meredith v. Supreme Court of State

Case Details

Full title:DWAYNE MEREDITH, Petitioner, v. SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE, Respondent

Court:United States District Court, E.D. California

Date published: Jul 20, 2010

Citations

No. 2:10-cv-1395-JFM (HC) (E.D. Cal. Jul. 20, 2010)