Morales v. Calderon, 94-99010

Decision Date04 June 1996
Docket NumberNo. 94-99010,94-99010
Parties96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3955, 96 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6463 Michael Angelo MORALES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Arthur CALDERON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

David A. Senior, Condon & Forsyth, Los Angeles, California, for petitioner-appellant.

Keith H. Borjon, Deputy Attorney General, Los Angeles, California, for respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Dickran M. Tevrizian, District Judge, Presiding, D.C. No. CV-91-00682-DT.

Before: FARRIS, CANBY, and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges.

CANBY, Circuit Judge:

Michael Angelo Morales, a California death-row inmate, appeals the federal district court's dismissal of the majority of the claims he presented in his first habeas corpus petition in district court. The district court dismissed the claims because the California Supreme Court had denied them not only on the merits but also as untimely; they were therefore considered to be defaulted. This is an interlocutory appeal of the district court's ruling. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) and F.R.A.P. 5(a). We reverse the district court's dismissal of the claims and remand for consideration of the merits because we find that the state court's denial of the claims was not based on an adequate and independent state ground that bars federal habeas review.

BACKGROUND

In 1983, a California jury convicted Morales of first-degree murder, among other charges, and sentenced him to death. The California Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence by opinion on April 6, 1989, amended June 1, 1989. People v. Morales, 48 Cal.3d 527, 257 Cal.Rptr. 64, 770 P.2d 244 (Cal.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 984, 110 S.Ct. 520, 107 L.Ed.2d 520 (1989). On June 6, 1989, the California Supreme Court adopted new policies regarding death penalty cases, including "Standards Governing Filing of Habeas Corpus Petitions and Compensation of Counsel in Relation to such Petitions." See Supreme Court Policies Regarding Cases Arising from Judgments of Death, in California Rules of Court--State 745-46 (1990) (hereinafter "Standards"). 1 These Standards, effective June 6, 1989, governed "all petitions for writs of habeas corpus arising from judgments of death, whether the appeals therefrom are pending or previously resolved." Standards, Policy 3 at 745.

In November 1989, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Morales's case. Thereafter, Morales obtained new counsel who filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on July 20, 1992, in federal district court. Morales presented 52 claims. 2 Twenty of these claims were exhausted in the automatic state appeal and raised issues from the trial record. The other claims involved issues that arose from facts outside the record and were discovered by Morales's new counsel.

The district court dismissed the 32 extra-record claims without prejudice and ordered Morales to present those claims to the California Supreme Court. 3 On December 16, 1992, approximately three and one-half years after his convictions were affirmed, Morales filed his first petition for writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court. The petition raised the 32 extra-record claims and one additional, newly-discovered claim. Morales later filed a supplemental petition, which the court treated as a separate habeas corpus petition, raising three additional claims based on newly discovered facts, and presenting newly discovered facts supporting three of the claims raised in the December 16 petition.

The California Supreme Court denied all relief on both petitions, issuing two orders on July 28, 1993, that both stated Petition for writ of habeas corpus DENIED on the merits and as untimely. (See Supreme Court Policies Regarding Cases Arising from Judgments of Death, Stds. 1-1.1 to 1-3; In re Stankewitz (1985) 40 Cal.3d 391, 396, fn. 1, 220 Cal.Rptr. 382, 708 P.2d 1260.)[.]

The order dismissing the December 16 petition also stated: Mosk, J. is of the opinion that an order to show cause should issue.

Morales then filed his first amended petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, raising the newly-exhausted claims and two more claims attacking the constitutionality of the California death penalty statute. 4 Morales also re-alleged the 20 claims from the first petition, which the State had already answered and Morales had traversed.

In April 1994, the district court granted the State's motion to dismiss. The district court dismissed the newly-exhausted claims on the ground that they were procedurally defaulted for untimeliness in state court. 5 The district court also dismissed the 20 claims already before it from the first petition, noting that these claims were already under consideration.

The district court found that "the California Supreme Court's procedural bars specifically invoked in this case" were adequate and independent state grounds that supported the Supreme Court's judgment. The district court further found that Morales had "failed to make any particularized showing of cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice to overcome the 'presumption against federal habeas review of claims defaulted in state court.' " See Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 747, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 2563, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). The court granted Morales's request to make a more particularized showing of either cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice.

Morales moved for reconsideration in light of Siripongs v. Calderon, 35 F.3d 1308 (9th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1175, 130 L.Ed.2d 1127 (1995), decided after the district court had entered its order of dismissal. The district court denied the motion.

The district court granted Morales's motion to certify the dismissal of these claims for interlocutory appeal, and we granted permission to appeal pursuant to F.R.A.P. 5(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). The district court's certification order stayed further briefing of the questions whether, assuming a default, Morales had shown cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice; those issues consequently are not before us.

ISSUE

The issue for our decision is whether the California Supreme Court's timeliness requirement serves as an adequate and independent state ground for its decision dismissing Morales' petition. If it does, Morales has defaulted procedurally on the affected claims and cannot raise them in federal court unless he shows cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice. See Coleman, 501 U.S. at 750, 111 S.Ct. at 2565. 6

ANALYSIS

Morales argues that the state denial of his claims was not based on an adequate and independent ground barring federal review because (1) the California Supreme Court's habeas corpus timeliness Standards are facially indeterminate, (2) the Supreme Court has applied the Standards with a lack of There is usually no doubt that the decision of a state supreme court rests on an adequate and independent state ground when the court's opinion clearly and expressly states that its decision is based on a state procedural rule. See Coleman, 501 U.S. at 735-36, 111 S.Ct. at 2557-58 (citing Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255, 263, 109 S.Ct. 1038, 1043, 103 L.Ed.2d 308 (1989)). A state procedural rule does not bar federal review, however, if it is so unclear that it does not "provide[ ] the habeas petitioner with a fair opportunity to seek relief in state court." Harmon v. Ryan, 959 F.2d 1457, 1462 (9th Cir.1992). Nor can a state preclude federal review by invoking procedural rules that the state does not apply consistently. See Hathorn v. Lovorn, 457 U.S. 255, 262-63, 102 S.Ct. 2421, 2426-27, 72 L.Ed.2d 824 (1982). We conclude that the California timeliness standard, as applied to Morales, suffers from both of these deficiencies.

                even-handedness, and (3) the Supreme Court's orders of denial are ambiguous and dependent on federal claims.   The State, on the other hand, insists that the Standards are adequate neutral rules of judicial administration that, as applied in this case, bar federal review
                
I. Uncertainty of California's Timeliness Standards

We find it difficult to articulate California's timeliness requirements as they applied to Morales. The Standards make it clear enough that a petition for habeas corpus is presumed timely if filed within 60 (later 90) days of the final due date of the petitioner's reply brief on direct appeal, Standards § 1-1.2, but Morales's appeal had already been decided at the time the Standards were announced. Neither the Standards themselves nor California cases construing those Standards create an unambiguous rule on timeliness beyond the 60 or 90 days. Further, because the California Supreme Court does not provide reasons for its denials of petitions of habeas corpus on timeliness grounds, it is equally difficult to discern what criteria the state court applies when ruling on the timeliness of a petition filed beyond the 60 or 90 day period.

The Standards, in pertinent part, state:

1. Timeliness standards

1-1. Appellate counsel in capital cases shall have a duty to investigate factual and legal grounds for the filing of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. All petitions for writs of habeas corpus should be filed without substantial delay.

1-1.1. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus will be presumed to be filed without substantial delay if it is filed within 60 days after the final due date for the filing of appellant's reply brief on the direct appeal. 7

1-1.2. A petition filed more than 60 days after the final due date for the filing of appellant's reply brief on the direct appeal may establish absence of substantial delay if it alleges with specificity facts showing the petition was filed within a reasonable time after petitioner or counsel became aware of...

To continue reading

Request your trial
146 cases
  • Kaddoura v. Cate, No. 2:11-cv-01208-JKS
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. Eastern District of California
    • July 3, 2012
    ...32. Bennett v. Mueller, 322 F.3d 573, 585 (9th Cir. 2003). 33. Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 338 (1992). 34. Morales v. Calderon, 85 F.3d 1387, 1393 (9th Cir. 1996) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 35. Walker v. Martin, 131 S. Ct. 1120, 1128 (2011); Beard v. Kindler, 130 ......
  • Lopez v. Lopez
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. Eastern District of California
    • September 19, 2013
    ...Kernan, 244 F.3d 702, 704 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1040-41, 103 S.Ct. 3469 (1983)); Morales v. Calderon, 85 F.3d 1387, 1393(9th Cir. 1996) ("Federal habeas review is not barred if the state decision 'fairly appears to rest primarily on federal law, or to be i......
  • Lopez v. Martel
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. Eastern District of California
    • October 9, 2014
    ...Kernan, 244 F.3d 702, 704 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1040-41, 103 S.Ct. 3469 (1983)); Morales v. Calderon, 85 F.3d 1387, 1393 (9th Cir. 1996) ("Federal habeas review is not barred if the state decision 'fairly appears to rest primarily on federal law, or to be ......
  • Griffin v. Yates
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. Eastern District of California
    • October 15, 2014
    ...LaCrosse v. Kernan, 244 F.3d 702, 704 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1040-41 (1983)); Morales v. Calderon, 85 F.3d 1387, 1393 (9th Cir. 1996). "A state law is so interwoven if 'the state has made application of the procedural bar depend on an antecedent ruling on f......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT