Opinion
Case No. CV 16-9293-VAP(AJW)
12-29-2016
LEE EDWARD PEYTON, Petitioner, v. GEOFF DEAN (SHERIFF); KAMALA HARRIS (ATTORNEY GENERAL), Respondents.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DISMISSING PETITION
Petitioner is currently in custody in the Ventura County Jail awaiting trial on a charge of rape. [Petition at 2]. On December 16, 2016, petitioner filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this Court. The petition challenging the Superior Court's denial of petitioner's request to represent himself. [Petition at 5].
The petition is subject to summary dismissal. See Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases.
"Younger [v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971)] precludes federal intrusion into ongoing state criminal presentations." Spring Comm'n, Inc. v. Jacobs, 134 S. Ct. 584, 586 (2013). "[O]nly in the most unusual circumstances is a defendant entitled to have federal interposition by way of injunction or habeas corpus until after the jury comes in, judgment has been appealed from and the case concluded in the state courts." Drury v. Cox, 457 F.2d 764, 764-765 (9th Cir. 1972) (per curiam). Petitioner has not yet been convicted; his criminal proceedings are currently pending. Although Younger abstention may not be warranted if a prosecution is "undertaken by state officials without hope of obtaining a valid conviction" or if a challenged criminal statute is "flagrantly and patently violative of express constitutional prohibitions", Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 85 (1971), petitioner has not made such a showing.
The policy underlying Younger abstention is sufficiently important that federal courts may raise the issue sua sponte. Martinez v. Newport Beach City, 125 F.3d 777, 781, n. 3 (9th Cir.1997), overruled on other grounds, Green v. City of Tucson, 255 F.3d 1086 (9th Cir. 2001); Romero v. California, 2012 WL 1570080, at *2 (C.D. Cal. May 3, 2012)(citing New Orleans Public Service, Inc. v. Council of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 368 (1989)). --------
For the foregoing reasons, the petition is dismissed without prejudice to its refiling after petitioner's state criminal proceedings, including his direct appeal, are completed and his federal claims have been properly presented to the California courts.
It is so ordered. Dated: December 29, 2016
/s/_________
Virginia A. Phillips
Chief United States District Judge