Opinion
1:06-cv-01866-AWI-TAG HC.
January 4, 2008
Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
Petitioner filed his original federal petition on December 22, 2006. (Doc. 1). On October 9, 2007, Petitioner filed a motion for leave to file an amended petition, contending that he had inadvertently omitted one claim from the original petition and that the original petition contained numerous errors that he wished to correct in an amended petition. (Doc. 6).
DISCUSSION
A petitioner may amend a petition for writ of habeas corpus once "as a matter of course," and without leave of Court, before a response has been filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a), as applied to habeas corpus actions pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2242 and Rule 11 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases. Calderon v. United States District Court (Thomas), 144 F.3d 618, 620 (9th Cir. 1998); Bonn v. Calderon, 59 F.3d 815, 845 (9th Cir. 1995). Leave of court is required for all other amendments. Rule Civ. P. 15(a).
Here, no responsive pleading has been filed. Hence, there is no impediment to Petitioner's filing of an amended petition.
Accordingly, GOOD CAUSE having been presented, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED as follows:
1 Petitioner's motion to amend (Doc. 6), is GRANTED. Petitioner is granted thirty (30) days from the date of service of this order in which to file his amended petition for writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner is also cautioned that all grounds for relief must raise cognizable federal claims. The amended petition should be clearly and boldly titled "AMENDED PETITION," contain the appropriate case number, and be an original signed under penalty of perjury. Petitioner is advised that the form petition must set forth all claims for relief, including the facts and arguments in support of those claims. Petitioner should also note that every pleading to which an amendment is permitted must be retyped or rewritten and filed so that it is complete in itself without reference to the prior or superseded pleading. Local Rule 15-220.
2. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to send Petitioner a blank form petition for state prisoners filing pursuant to § 2254.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
PETITION UNDER 28 USC § 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 has a sentence to be served in the future under a federal judgment which he wishes to attack, he should file a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, in the federal court which entered the judgment.)PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS BY A PERSON IN STATE CUSTODY Instructions — Read Carefully
brief in forma pauperis in forma pauperis
(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) If you have more than 4 grounds for relief, you may attach pages with the remaining grounds; however, the format of the attached pages must be the same as the petition and you must provide only a statement of facts. No citation to legal authority is required. A brief or memorandum in support of the petition may also be attached; however, the form petition must be complete in itself and may not simply refer to the attachments. (3) Upon receipt of a fee of $5 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 a petition of this type, you may request permission to proceed , in which event you must execute form AO-240 or other form required by the court, setting forth information establishing your inability to pay the costs. If you wish to proceed , you must have an authorized officer at the penal institution complete the certificate as to the amount of money and securities on deposit to your credit in any account in the institution. (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 of 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, the original and at least two copies must be mailed to the Clerk of the United States District Court whose address is Clerk, U.S. District Court 2500 Tulare Street, Suite 1501 Fresno, California 93721 (8) Petitions which do not conform to these instructions will be returned with a notation as to the deficiency. (Revised 2/15/06) 28 USC § 2254 United States District Court PETITION not concisely briefly 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 PETITION UNDER FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS BY A PERSON IN STATE CUSTODY 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) Name 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, etc. 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 the 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 on _________________________________ Date _______________________________________________________ Signature of Petitioner