Islas v. Ryan et al

Filing 23

ORDER re: 20 Report and Recommendation: Magistrate Judge Ferraro's R&R is ACCEPTED AND ADOPTED, over Petitioner's objection (Doc. 21 ), as the findings of fact and conclusions of law of this Court. The Petition in this matter (Doc. 1 ) is DISMISSED. The Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment accordingly and close the file in this matter. Signed by Chief Judge Raner C Collins on 8/21/2018. (SIB)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Armando Duarte Islas, Jr.,

No. CV-17-00307-TUC-RCC

Petitioner,

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v.

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ORDER

Charles L Ryan, et al.,

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Respondents.

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Pending before the Court is Magistrate Judge D. Thomas Ferraro’s Report and

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Recommendation (“R&R”), wherein he finds that none of Petitioner’s claims were

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properly exhausted in state court and recommends this Court dismiss his Petition for Writ

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of Habeus Corpus (“Petition”). Doc. 20. Petitioner filed a timely objection to the R&R

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(Doc. 21) and Respondents responded thereto (Doc. 22). For the following reasons and

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after independent review, this Court will adopt the findings and conclusions of the R&R

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and dismiss the Petition in this matter.
Standard of Review

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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b) provides that a party may serve and file

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specific written objections to a magistrate’s proposed findings and recommendations.

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Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b) (emphasis added). The district court, in turn, is obliged to make a

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de novo determination of any portion of the magistrate’s disposition to which a specific

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objection is made. Id.

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Congress created the position of magistrate judges to assist district courts in

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discharging the heavy workload of the federal judiciary. See Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S.

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140, 152 (1985).

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economy—to permit magistrate judges to hear and resolve matters not objectionable to

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the parties. Thomas, 474 U.S. at 147–52. However, there would be no efficiency in

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referring matters to magistrate judges for R&Rs if district courts must subsequently

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review said matters de novo whenever an objecting party merely repeats arguments

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rejected by the magistrate. Accordingly, this Court joins with others that have concluded

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it is appropriate, under Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b), to overruled general objections advanced

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without specific reference to the subject R&R or its analysis. See Sullivan v. Schiro, 2006

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An obvious purpose of this authorized delegation was judicial

WL 1516005, *1 (D. Ariz. 2006) (collecting cases).

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Analysis

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Here, the Court finds Petitioner has failed to make specific written objections

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warranting de novo review of all the issues raised and briefs. Rather than pointing to

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some inaccuracy in the magistrate’s recitation of the Background of this matter or some

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fault in his legal analysis, Petitioner has instead used his opportunity to object to

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summarily deny that his claims are procedurally defaulted and to re-urge the substance of

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those claims. See Doc. 21 at 2-4.

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While the absence of proper objections does not relieve this Court of its duty to

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review Magistrate Judge Ferraro’s conclusions of law, Barilla v. Ervin, 886 F.2d 1514,

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1518 (9th Cir. 1989), overruled on other grounds by Simpson v. Lear Astronics Corp., 77

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F.3d 1170, 1174 (9th Cir. 1996), after independent review, the Court finds that Magistrate

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Judge Ferraro correctly articulated and applied the law governing procedurally defaulted

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claims. Furthermore, and on the whole, the Court finds the R&R to be well-reasoned and

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thorough. As such,

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IT IS ORDERED:

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over Petitioner’s objection (Doc. 21), as the findings of fact and conclusions of law of

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this Court.

Magistrate Judge Ferraro’s R&R (Doc. 20) is ACCEPTED AND ADOPTED,

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The Petition in this matter (Doc. 1) is DISMISSED.

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The Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment accordingly and close the file in this

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matter.

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Dated this 21st day of August, 2018.

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