Von Staden v. Davis

• Decision Date: 26 May 2015
• Docket Number: No. C 09-3788 MMC (PR),No. C 09-3789 MMC (PR),C 09-3788 MMC (PR),C 09-3789 MMC (PR)
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: KURT VON STADEN, Petitioner, v. RON DAVIS, Warden, Respondent.

KURT VON STADEN, Petitioner,
v.
RON DAVIS, Warden, Respondent.

No. C 09-3788 MMC (PR)
No. C 09-3789 MMC (PR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

May 26, 2015

ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS; DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY

Before the Court are the above-titled petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 by petitioner Kurt Von Staden, challenging the validity of separate judgments obtained against him in state court.¹ For the reasons discussed below, the petitions will be denied.

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I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In April 2004, the Marin County District Attorney filed three separate informations against petitioner (Case Nos. SC122889A, SC124442A, and SC126580A). The cases were consolidated for trial. In November 2004, a Marin County jury found petitioner guilty of two counts of possession of methamphetamine (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11377(a)), and one count of possession of a concealed dirk or dagger (Cal. Penal Code § 12020(a)). Additionally, in a separate Marin County case, also tried before a jury in 2004 (SC 136369B), petitioner was found guilty of burglary (Cal. Penal Code § 459), and grand theft (Cal. Penal Code § 487(a)). The jury in one of the two trials and the trial court in the other each found petitioner had nine prior convictions (Cal. Penal Code § 1203), including four prior felony convictions, two of which qualified as "serious" (id. § 1170.12), and that he had committed offenses while released on bail (id. § 12022.1).

In a single sentencing proceeding, petitioner was sentenced to an aggregate term of 39 years and 8 months to life in state prison. On February 7, 2008, the California Court of Appeal consolidated the cases and affirmed the judgment, and, on May 21, 2008, the California Supreme Court denied review.

On August 18, 2009, petitioner filed in federal court a petition for a writ of habeas corpus (C 09-3788 MMC), challenging his conviction in Case Nos. SC122889A, SC124442A, and SC126580A; that same date, petitioner filed a separate petition for a writ of habeas corpus (C 09-3789 MMC), challenging his conviction in Case No. SC 136369B. Both actions were stayed to afford petitioner an opportunity to exhaust state court remedies.

Petitioner's state petition for a writ of habeas corpus was summarily denied by the California Supreme Court on March 21, 2012.

On April 6, 2012, the Court reopened C 09-3788 MMC, and ordered respondent to show cause why the petition should not be granted. Respondent filed an answer. Petitioner did not file a traverse, and the time in which to do so has passed.

On April 16, 2013, the Court reopened C 09-3789 MMC and ordered respondent to show cause why the petition should not be granted. Respondent filed an answer, and

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petitioner filed a traverse.²

Because the petitions raised three common claims of error, the Court, on November 15, 2013, consolidated the actions and notified the parties it would rule on both petitions in a single order once briefing was complete. The Court now rules herein on both petitions.

II. STATEMENT OF FACTS

The California Court of Appeal found the facts underlying petitioner's convictions to be as follows:³

Case Number SC122889A

While Deputy Michael Brovelli of the Marin County Sheriff's Office was on patrol at about 12:30 a.m. on November 22, 2001, he noticed a black Corvette that did not have a license plate lamp. Brovelli detained the Corvette, which was driven by [petitioner]; a woman identified as Danielle Hoff occupied the front passenger seat. After [petitioner] was unable to produce a driver's license, registration or proof of insurance, Deputy Brovelli conducted a "warrant search" and discovered that his driver's license was suspended. [Petitioner] was arrested, handcuffed and pat searched. The deputy felt a "hard object" on [petitioner]'s waistband "which was concealed by his shirt." After lifting the shirt, Deputy Brovelli discovered that the object "was a dirk" inside a sheath.

During a search of the Corvette, Deputy Brovelli discovered a "counterfeit registration tab" affixed to the rear window of the vehicle. A "clear plastic bag with a white crystal-like substance inside of it" that was subsequently identified as methamphetamine was found between the driver's seat and the center console. A bag seized from the rear seat contained hypodermic needles, a marijuana pipe and some cotton balls. Hoff stated that the bag belonged to her, and she was subsequently arrested for possession of hypodermic syringes.

[Petitioner] was transported to the police station, where he agreed to talk to Deputy Brovelli. When asked about the dirk, [petitioner] said that it "came from Pakistan," and he carried it "for no particular reason." He indicated that a friend gave him the "fake registration" about six weeks before, and he knew nothing more about it. [Petitioner] also stated that he "didn't know anything about any drugs" found in the plastic bag.

Case Number SC124442A
On May 14, 2002, at about 6:00 p.m., as Sergeant Jeff Edwards of the Marin

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County Sheriff's Office drove through the intersection of Park Street and San Geronimo Valley Road, he observed [petitioner] working on the engine of a red Corvette. Although the Corvette had a "2002 tab" on the license plate, the registration had expired in 1994. Sergeant Edwards contacted [petitioner], who stated that he "had just purchased the car a few months ago," and the "2002 tab was on the vehicle when he had purchased it." The officer then conducted a consent search of [petitioner] and the Corvette. Edwards observed a Marlboro cigarette box on the front passenger seat; inside it was a plastic baggie that contained a "white, powdery substance." The officer suspected that the powder was methamphetamine or cocaine, but when asked [petitioner] said "it was battery acid." Edwards conducted an "NIK field test" which was "presumptive positive" for methamphetamine.⁴ [Petitioner] was placed under arrest. When asked about the methamphetamine, [petitioner] said, "What's there to talk about?"

As he arranged for the red Corvette to be towed, Sergeant Edwards discovered that the VIN on the vehicle did not match the VIN of the license plate, and the license plate "was registered to a subject out of Santa Rosa." When asked about the discrepancy [petitioner] said that he owned "five different Chevy Corvettes, and that he had switched the [license] plates so he could drive that car around for the day."

Case Number SC126580A

[Petitioner] was detained by two San Rafael Police Department officers on the morning of October 10, 2002, as he drove a black Corvette on A Street in San Rafael. Officer Ray Fernandez recognized [petitioner] as the driver of the Corvette. He also noticed that [petitioner] was wearing a long leather jacket. [Petitioner] stepped out of the vehicle and onto the sidewalk to be pat searched as requested by Officer Fernandez. During the pat search the officer detected two hard objects in the right pocket of the jacket: one square in shape, which turned out to be a pack of cigarettes; and the other cylindrical, which the officer recognized as a glass drug pipe. When Officer Fernandez asked [petitioner] if "he had the drugs that went with the pipe," [petitioner] motioned to the right pocket of his jacket. The officer extracted a "baggie of suspected narcotics" out of the jacket pocket, which testing revealed to be 2.38 grams of methamphetamine, along with a silver cigarette lighter. Inside the Corvette the officer found a shirt, a wallet that contained $280 in cash, and a black, hand-held drug scale. When questioned later at the police station [petitioner] admitted that the drug pipe and drugs were "for his own use." [Petitioner] added that he "had been addicted to methamphetamine for about three years."

Case Number SC136369B

The burglary and grand theft offenses occurred on Sunday, July 18, 2004, at a vacant residence owned by Martha Thomson at 71 Casneau Avenue in San Rafael. Martha Thomson and her late husband Walter lived in the house for many years, but it had been empty for the past five years before the burglary. The Thomsons' son Paul had been "keeping an eye" one the house and "cleaning up" every weekend beginning in February of 2004. The house was filled with the Thomsons' personal belongings, some valuables, and furniture.

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On Sunday, July 11th, Paul visited the house, cleaned up, then locked the front door and secured the windows before he left.

On the afternoon of July 18, 2004, a neighbor, Jenny Gaetani, and her friend Janet Chapman, observed two women on the porch of Thomsons' residence as they climbed into the house through a window. The women were carrying shopping bags. After one of the women disappeared into the house, Chapman and Gaetani yelled at the other, "What do you think you're doing?" One of the women began to leave, and said to the other, "We've got to get out of here." Another neighbor "came running up with a telephone" when Gaetani asked for help.

As the two women were walking down the driveway Gaetani again asked, "What are you doing?" They replied, "we're here to clean the Thomsons' house," and claimed they were "working for somebody by the name of Jeff Brown." They continued to walk down the street, past two parked cars, a silver Corvette registered to [petitioner], and a yellow pickup truck with Oregon license plates. The women then turned around, entered a yellow pickup truck, and began to drive away. Gaetani "stopped them" and asked where they were going. They said "down the hill to call this Jeff Brown," so Gaetani "let them go," although she "jotted down the license plate" of the yellow pickup truck and gave it to the police.

As Gaetani was on the phone with the police, "two men came out from the Thomsons' driveway," [petitioner] and Keith Tadder, and "started walking up the hill." One of the men was carrying a backpack over his shoulder that "looked like it had stuff in it."

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