Hartman v. Summers

• Decision Date: 30 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. CV94-0101-IH(AJW).,CV94-0101-IH(AJW).
• Citation: 878 F. Supp. 1335
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: Douglas M. HARTMAN, Petitioner, v. William L. SUMMERS, Warden, and the Attorney General of the State of California, Respondent.

878 F. Supp. 1335

Douglas M. HARTMAN, Petitioner, v. William L. SUMMERS, Warden, and the Attorney General of the State of California, Respondent.

No. CV94-0101-IH(AJW).

United States District Court, C.D. California.

March 30, 1995.

Ronald L. Hartman, Joseph Rhine, Ronald L. Hartman Law Offices, Santa Monica, CA, for petitioner.

Donald J. Oeser, Deputy Atty. Gen., Jaime L. Fuster, Emilio Eugene Varanini, IV, CAAG Office of Atty. Gen. of California, Los Angeles, CA, for respondent.

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

IRVING HILL, District Judge.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), the Court has reviewed the petition, all of the records and files in this action, the attached Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge, and the objections to the Report and Recommendation. The Court concurs with and adopts the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations of the Magistrate Judge after having made a de novo determination of the portions to which objections were directed.¹

IT IS ORDERED that the petition filed in this action is dismissed with prejudice.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve copies of the Order Adopting Report and Recommendation and the Judgment by United States mail on counsel for the parties.

LET JUDGMENT BE ENTERED ACCORDINGLY.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE¹

WISTRICH, United States Magistrate Judge.

Petitioner is an insanity acquittee who is confined in a state mental hospital. He challenges the constitutionality of the California statutes regulating the release of insanity acquittees, and a state trial judge's refusal to apply the doctrine of imperfect self-defense. Neither challenge possesses sufficient merit to justify issuance of a writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

Petitioner was convicted in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of second degree murder. On May 16, 1991, petitioner was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Thereafter, petitioner was committed to Patton State Hospital where he remains to this day.

Petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Bernardino on April 9, 1993. Return, Ex. B. The petition was denied on June 14, 1993. Return, Ex. C. On August 2, 1993, petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court of California. Return, Ex. D. The Supreme Court of California denied the petition without citation to authority, on December 2, 1993.²

PETITIONER'S CONTENTIONS

Petitioner alleges the following grounds for relief:

(1) Petitioner is being illegally confined in violation of (a) the guarantee of due process of law, (b) the guarantee of equal protection of the laws, and (c) the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, all as a result of California's statutory scheme for restoration of sanity and release procedures for persons found not guilty by reason of insanity. Petition at 6-7.

(2) The statutory scheme for California's conditional release program is an unlawful delegation of legislative and judicial power. Petitioner's Points and Authorities in Support of Petition at 21.

(3) The trial court misapplied the doctrine of imperfect self-defense, and erroneously found petitioner guilty of second degree murder. Petition at 6a.

DISCUSSION

I. Petitioner has exhausted his state remedies.

A person in state custody must exhaust his available state remedies before petitioning for writ of habeas corpus in federal court. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b) & (c); Bland v. California Department of Corrections, 20 F.3d 1469, 1472 (9th Cir.1994); Henry v. Estelle, 993 F.2d 1423, 1425 (9th Cir.1993), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Duncan v. Henry, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 887, 130 L.Ed.2d 865 (1995). "Principles of comity and deference underlie the exhaustion requirement, which assures that the state courts will have the first opportunity to pass upon and correct alleged violations of state prisoners' federal rights." Henry, 993 F.2d at 1425 (quoting Wilwording v. Swenson, 404 U.S. 249, 250, 92 S.Ct. 407, 409, 30 L.Ed.2d 418 (1971)). The exhaustion requirement is satisfied when the substance of a petitioner's federal claim has been fairly presented to the state's highest court. Castille v. Peoples, 489 U.S. 346, 351, 109 S.Ct. 1056, 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 380 (1989); Bland, 20 F.3d at 1473; Henry, 993 F.2d at 1425. A claim has been fairly presented if the petitioner has described both the operative facts and the federal legal theory on which the claim is based. Bland, 20 F.3d at 1473; Henry, 993 F.2d at 1425. The petitioner also must have presented the claim in a procedural posture rendering it eligible for decision on the merits. Hughes v. Idaho State Bd. of Corrections, 800 F.2d 905, 906 (9th Cir.1986); McQuown v. McCartney, 795 F.2d 807, 809 (9th Cir. 1986).

A state prisoner is not, however, required to repetitively seek relief in state courts after the highest state court has reviewed his case. Humphrey v. Cady, 405 U.S. 504, 516 n. 18, 92 S.Ct. 1048, 1056 n. 18, 31 L.Ed.2d 394 (1972). Thus, when a state changes the underlying substantive law relating to the federal issue after the highest state court has reviewed a habeas corpus petition, re-exhaustion is not necessary.³ Roberts v. LaVallee, 389 U.S. 40, 88 S.Ct. 194, 19 L.Ed.2d 41 (1967); Briggs v. Raines, 652 F.2d 862 (9th Cir.1981); Deters v. Collins, 985 F.2d 789, 796 (5th Cir.1993), citing Galtieri v. Wainwright, 582 F.2d 348, 355 (5th Cir.1978).

In Roberts, for example, an indigent defendant was not provided with his preliminary hearing transcript because he could not pay the required fee, and the state affirmed his conviction. After the defendant filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court, the highest state court ruled that the statute requiring a fee was unconstitutional as applied to indigents. The Second Circuit dismissed the petition, holding that the petitioner must return to the state court to take advantage of the changed state law. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded, holding that the petitioner had thoroughly exhausted his remedies. Roberts, 389 U.S. at 42-43, 88 S.Ct. at 196. The Court concluded that "still more state litigation would be both unnecessarily time-consuming and otherwise burdensome." Roberts, 389 U.S. at 43, 88 S.Ct. at 196.

Similarly, in Francisco v. Gathright, 419 U.S. 59, 95 S.Ct. 257, 42 L.Ed.2d 226 (1974), a state prisoner sought habeas corpus relief, challenging the constitutionality of the state statute under which he had been convicted. The petitioner had presented his constitutional claims to the highest state court, which denied review. Prior to the petitioner's filing a habeas corpus petition in federal court, the highest state court held the statute invalid. The Fourth Circuit held that the state court should have an opportunity to re-examine the petitioner's claim in light of the new law. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that where the state courts had received a fair opportunity to determine the constitutional validity of the state statute at issue, the petitioner would not be required to resubmit his constitutional claim to the state courts for reconsideration based upon the intervening change in state law. Francisco, 419 U.S. at 63, 95 S.Ct. at 259-60.

Finally, in Briggs, the petitioner claimed that the prosecution had failed to turn over certain information in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). The state supreme court rejected the claim and affirmed petitioner's conviction. Subsequently, the relevant state law changed, placing an obligation on the state to disclose information to a criminal defendant. The state contended that, given the change in law, the petitioner was required to return to the state courts prior to seeking federal habeas corpus relief. Relying on Roberts and Francisco, the Ninth Circuit rejected this contention and found that the petitioner had adequately exhausted his state remedies. Briggs, 652 F.2d at 864-65.

Prior to seeking relief in this Court, petitioner provided the California Supreme Court with a full and fair opportunity to determine all of the federal constitutional issues contained in his petition. Subsequent to the California Supreme Court's denial of petitioner's state petition, Section 1026.2 was amended on two separate occasions. In 1993, the California legislature amended Section 1026.2 by requiring both dangerousness and mental illness in order for continued confinement of an insanity acquittee. Prior to the amendment, continued confinement of insanity acquittees could be based upon a finding of dangerousness alone. In 1994, the California legislature amended the portion of Section 1026.2 which required an insanity acquittee to serve a full year in the conditional release program prior to obtaining a trial on his restoration to sanity. The amendment provides that an insanity acquittee does not have to complete a year in the program prior to obtaining a trial. Rather, the acquittee is entitled to a trial to determine restoration to sanity if, during the one-year program, the community program director opines that the acquittee is no longer dangerous due to mental defect and submits a report of his opinion to the court and other interested parties.

In light of the foregoing cases, the changes that were made to Section 1026.2 after petitioner's petition to the California Supreme Court was denied do not require re-exhaustion.⁴ The policies underlying the exhaustion requirement would not be furthered by requiring petitioner to resubmit his claims to the state courts.⁵ The Court, therefore, finds that petitioner has exhausted his state remedies and declines to require him to re-exhaust based upon the recent amendments to Penal Code § 1026.2.

II. Section 1026.2 does not...