Senteno v. State Of Cal., Case No. 08cv0694-JLS(JMA).

• Decision Date: 08 December 2009
• Docket Number: Case No. 08cv0694-JLS(JMA).
• Citation: 705 F.Supp.2d 1175
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
• Parties: Phillip Angel SENTENO, Petitioner,v.State of CALIFORNIA; Derral Adams, Warden, Respondents.

705 F.Supp.2d 1175

Phillip Angel SENTENO, Petitioner,v.State of CALIFORNIA; Derral Adams, Warden, Respondents.

Case No. 08cv0694-JLS(JMA).

United States District Court,

E.D. California,

Fresno Division.

Dec. 8, 2009.

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Phillip Angel Senteno, Corcoran, CA, pro se.

Krista Leigh Pollard, California Attorney General's Office, Sacramento, CA, for Respondents.

ORDER GRANTING 28 U.S.C. § 2254 HABEAS PETITION

JANIS L. SAMMARTINO, District Judge.

Petitioner Phillip Angel Senteno (“Senteno”), a state prisoner confined at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (“SATF”), Corcoran, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, seeks a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 writ of habeas corpus. He is serving an indeterminate life sentence for murder, robbery, and assault following his jury trial in January 1983. He challenges the Governor's reversal of the Board of Parole Hearing's 2006 decision to grant him parole. He raises four due process grounds for relief associated with evidentiary challenges and the review standard the Governor applied. Respondent filed an Answer.¹ (Dkt. No. 9.) Senteno filed a Traverse. ( Dkt. No. 10.) Both sides electronically filed documents constituting the record. (Dkt. Nos. 2, 9.) By Order entered November 25, 2008, this matter was reassigned from the bench of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Fresno Division, to visiting District Judge Janis L. Sammartino, United States District Court for the Southern District of California. (Dkt. No. 34.) After careful consideration of the parties' arguments, pertinent portions of the record, and controlling legal authority, for the reasons discussed below, the Petition is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUNDA. Procedural Background

In 1981, Senteno was in custody for several armed robberies when he participated with other prisoners in beating one of their number while inside a holding cell. The inmate died of his injuries. Senteno was convicted by a jury in 1983 of first-degree murder. The judge reduced the conviction to second-degree murder and sentenced Senteno to 15-years-to-life for that crime, to be served consecutively to his robbery conviction sentences, for a total term of 27-years, 4 months to life. In May 2006, at his fifth suitability hearing, the Board of Parole Hearings (“BPH”) granted Senteno parole. (Pet. Exh. B, Part 3.) The Governor reversed the BPH in September 2006 and denied him parole. (Answer, Dkt. No. 9-8, pp. 19-22.) ²

Senteno filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Orange County Superior Court challenging the Governor's reversal on due process grounds. In its September 27, 2007 reasoned decision denying the petition, the Superior Court applied the standards from the August 28, 2007 California Court of Appeal decision of In re Jacobson, 154 Cal.App.4th 849, 65 Cal.Rptr.3d 222 (2007) (upholding the Governor's reversal of a BPH panel's grant of parole) review granted by In re Jacobson, 69 Cal.Rptr.3d 95, 172 P.3d 401 (2007). ³ On December 13, 2007, while the California Supreme Court was reviewing several cases, including Jacobson, to clarify the proper application of the parole statute factors, the California Court of Appeal summarily denied the habeas corpus petition Senteno had filed there. (Answer Exh. 4.) He filed a Petition For Review in the California Supreme Court, arguing the Governor's decision was not supported by any relevant or reliable evidence he currently would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety if released on parole.⁴ (Answer Exh. 5.) On February 27, 2008, the California Supreme Court summarily denied Senteno's Petition For Review. (Answer Exh. 6.)

On April 4, 2008, Senteno filed his federal habeas Petition in the Central District of California. By Order entered May 8, 2008, the matter was transferred to the Eastern District of California, the jurisdiction where the SATF is located, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 2241(d). (Dkt. No. 1.) There is no dispute the Petition was timely filed within AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations, and his claims are not subject to any other procedural bar. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The Petition presents four grounds for relief: (1) “The failure of the Governor to find clear error with the Parole Board granting panel, and failure to find that the panel failed to adequately consider all the evidence before it, constitutes a violation of due process;” (2) the “Governor exceeded his authority of ‘review’ when he conducted an independent suitability hearing without any constitutional safeguards required of such a proceeding, violating Senteno's due process rights;” (3) the “Governor violated due process when he conducted an independent suitability hearing without the complete record that was before the Board panel;” and (4) the “Governor reversed the Board's granting decision without any relevant or reliable information that Senteno remained a current unreasonable risk to public safety, if granted parole, thus violating Senteno's due process rights.” (Pet. pp. 5-6.) Respondent argues Senteno has not shown the state court result upholding the Governor's parole reversal was contrary to or an unreasonable application of federal law, precluding relief. (Answer 6:1-2, 8:1-2.)

B. Factual Background And Evidentiary Record

Federal habeas courts presume the correctness of a state court's determination of factual issues. The petitioner has “the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). The parties do not dispute the Superior Court's factual summaries in its reasoned decision, provided as Petition Appendix 3 and as Answer Exhibit 2.

In 198[1 ⁵], Petitioner was in jail for several armed robberies. He was placed in a holding cell with several other prisoners. Petitioner and a second inmate confronted a third inmate (the murder victim); both hit, kicked and stomped the victim. Petitioner was removed from the cell. The victim was attacked two more times by other inmates. By the time all of the inmates were removed from the holding cell, the victim was nonresponsive and comatose. He later died of brain injuries. Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder in connection with the death. (Case No. C-48220.) Petitioner was sentenced to 15 years to life for the murder, consecutive to the sentence imposed for the robberies which was 10 years and four months, plus 1 year for each [of] 2 prior convictions, for a total of 27 years, 4 months to life. After Petitioner was convicted in Case No. C-48220, he was convicted in another assault case and sentenced to 4 more years in prison. That sentence was ordered to be served concurrent to the life term. The assault case was also based on an incident which occurred while Petitioner was incarcerated.

(Answer Exh. 2, pp. 1-2 (emphasis added).)

The Superior Court also summarized Senteno's fifth parole suitability proceedings, conducted during his twenty-third year of incarceration:

A subsequent parole hearing was held before the Board of Parole Hearings (hereafter individually and collectively referred to as “the BPH”) in May 2006. Parole was granted. The BPH stated Petitioner had decided to turn his life around, had disassociated himself from prison gangs, and had demonstrated that he had incorporated the lessons of NA and AA into his life. The BPH found Petitioner had been “rehabilitated for quite a while,” had “maintained positive institutional behavior,” and had participated in educational, vocational and self-help programs. Numerous letters and “laudatory chronos” from the institutional staff as well as Petitioner's volunteer work attested to his long-term rehabilitation. The BPH found Petitioner would not pose a risk to society or a threat to public safety at this time if he were released.

In September 2006, the Governor reversed the BPH decision to grant parole to Petitioner. The Governor described Petitioner's criminal history as “deplorable and violent” both “inside correctional institutions as well as in free society.” The Governor stated, “The gravity of the second-degree murder committed by [Petitioner 25-years earlier] is alone sufficient for me to conclude presently that his release from prison would pose an unreasonable public-safety risk.” The Governor then added that Petitioner's “record of other violent and criminal acts also weighs against parole, and the additional fact that [Petitioner] committed the life offense while in jail for several armed robberies makes his actions even more reprehensible.” The Governor mentioned Petitioner had “made some creditable gains in prison.” Nevertheless, the Governor found the negative factors outweighed the positive factors. He concluded, “[B]ecause I believe his release would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society at this time, I REVERSE the Board's 2006 decision to grant parole to [Petitioner].”

(Answer Exh. 2, pp. 1-2 (emphasis added); see Answer 9-8, p. 22.)

Senteno spoke extensively and interactively on the record at the May 2006 BPH hearing, memorialized in a 109-page transcript. (Pet. Exh. H.) The panel found him to be “in full compliance with the Board's [prior] recommendations.” (Pet. Dkt. No. 2-3, 34:12-19.) Senteno's “current true classification score” was zero. ( Id. at 34:21-22.) He had “the lowest custody rating you can have as a life term prisoner without a parole date as well.” ( Id. at 35:2-7.) “You are a validated dropout according to the paperwork of the Mexican Mafia, the Eme” and consequently had “enemies both listed in the confidential section and the non-confidential section,” and was “currently housed in the sensitive needs yard ... based on that.” ( Id. at 35:10-16; see Id. at 36:8-10) (“When I made the decision to walk away from that lifestyle I was placed in protective custody....”) The commissioner observed it looked like “the list of enemies has a lot to do with the information...