Ernest DeWayne Jones v. Robert K. Wong

Filing 50

First EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME to File Motion for Evidentiary Hearing filed by Petitioner Ernest DeWayne Jones. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order Granting Extension of Time to File Motion for Evidentiary Hearing)(Laurence, Michael)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MICHAEL LAURENCE, State Bar No. 121854 PATRICIA DANIELS, State Bar No. 162868 CLIONA PLUNKETT, State Bar No. 256648 HABEAS CORPUS RESOURCE CENTER 303 Second Street, Suite 400 South San Francisco, California 94107 Telephone: (415) 348-3800 Facsimile: (415) 348-3873 Email: docketing@hcrc.ca.gov mlaurence@hcrc.ca.gov Attorneys for Petitioner ERNEST DEWAYNE JONES 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SOUTHERN DIVISION 11 12 Ernest Dewayne Jones, Case No. CV-09-2158-CJC 13 Petitioner, DEATH PENALTY CASE 14 15 16 v. PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING; DECLARATION OF MICHAEL LAURENCE Vincent Cullen, Acting Warden of California State Prison at San Quentin, Respondent 17 18 19 Pursuant to Rule 7-19 of the Local Rules for the United States District Court for 20 the Central District of California, petitioner Ernest Dewayne Jones hereby applies for 21 an order granting a 60-day extension of time, to an including January 4, 2011, to file 22 his Motion for Evidentiary Hearing. The Motion for Evidentiary hearing is currently 23 due to be filed November 5, 2010. 24 The basis for this request is set forth in the attached Declaration of Michael 25 Laurence. Petitioner has advised counsel for respondent of this request, and counsel 26 does not oppose this application. The contact information for counsel for respondent is 27 as follows: 28 1 PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING CV-09-2158-CJC 1 2 3 4 HERBERT S. TETEF Deputy Attorney General 300 South Spring Street, Suite 1702 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Telephone: (213) 897-0201 Facsimile: (213) 897-6496 Email: DocketingLAAWT@doj.ca.gov 5 6 7 Dated: November 1, 2010 Respectfully submitted, HABEAS CORPUS RESOURCE CENTER 8 9 10 11 /s/ Michael Laurence By: Michael Laurence Attorneys for Ernest Dewayne Jones 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING CV-09-2158-CJC 1 DECLARATION OF MICHAEL LAURENCE IN SUPPORT OF 2 PETITIONER’S EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF 3 TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING 4 I, Michael Laurence, declare as follows: 5 1. I am an attorney at law admitted to practice by the State of California and 6 before this Court. I am the Executive Director of the Habeas Corpus Resource Center. 7 I was appointed as lead counsel for petitioner Ernest DeWayne Jones in the above- 8 referenced matter by this Court in an order dated April 14, 2009. 9 2. On March 10, 2010, petitioner filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus 10 by a Prisoner in State Custody (28 U.S.C. § 2254). Respondent filed an Answer to 11 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on April 6, 2010. 12 3. 13 April 12, 2010. 14 4. The parties submitted a joint briefing schedule that this Court adopted on On July 7, 2010, the parties submitted a joint stipulation regarding 15 discovery and a proposed briefing schedule in which the parties agreed to adhere to the 16 briefing schedule outlined in the April 8, 2010 joint stipulation. This Court adopted 17 the stipulation of the parties by order dated July 12, 2010. 18 19 20 5. In accordance with the Joint Briefing Schedule, petitioner’s Motion for Evidentiary Hearing is due on November 5, 2010. 6. I will be unable to file petitioner’s Motion for Evidentiary Hearing by 21 November 5, 2010. Petitioner’s motion requires extensive and time consuming factual 22 research and wide-ranging investigation encompassing every factual allegation in the 23 Petition because respondent apparently will deny all facts raised in the Petition. 24 7. Our ability to file the motion on November 5, 2010, has also been 25 adversely affected by unforeseen events in other capital cases. At the time that the 26 parties agreed to the timeline set forth in the Joint Briefing Schedule, the California 27 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) did not have regulations in 28 effect to govern lethal injection executions. Moreover, my expectations were that 3 PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING CV-09-2158-CJC 1 executions would not be scheduled prior to termination of then pending litigation in the 2 federal district court and anticipated litigation in the state court concerning any 3 regulations the CDCR adopted. 4 intention to seek immediate executions in several cases, including one case in which 5 the HCRC was appointed counsel and for which I am the supervisor. In addition, on 6 August 12, 2010, HCRC was appointed by the California Supreme Court to represent 7 death row inmate, Stevie Fields, in executive clemency and other post-conviction 8 proceedings. At the time we were appointed, Mr. Fields had a hearing to set his 9 execution scheduled for August 16, 2010. Although the hearing date was stayed by the 10 California Supreme Court after our appointment, as the supervisor on the case I had to 11 devote a significant amount of time to overseeing, organizing, and assigning duties and 12 responsibilities for various tasks involved with taking on a case of this magnitude at 13 such a critical stage in litigation. 14 8. In early August 2010, the State announced its In addition to preparing the Motion for Evidentiary Hearing in this case, I 15 am currently preparing for the final testimony in an evidentiary hearing in Ashmus v. 16 Wong, No. 93-CV-00594-TEH, to be held mid-November before the District Court for 17 the Northern District of California. 18 9. In my position as Executive Director of HCRC, I have ongoing 19 administrative and managerial responsibilities as well as being a supervising attorney 20 on several matters before the California Supreme Court. I am the supervising attorney 21 on California Supreme Court Case No. S161036 in which a petition for writ of habeas 22 corpus is due to be filed December 7, 2010. In the meantime, I am also responsible for 23 supervising the filing of an Informal Reply on November 8, 2010 in California 24 Supreme Court Case No. S066377. 25 10. On October 26, 2010, Ms. Cliona Plunkett, counsel for petitioner, spoke 26 to Herbert Tetef, counsel for respondent, and informed him of the substance of this 27 request for additional time, including the proposed due date. Mr. Tetef authorized 28 petitioner’s counsel to represent to the Court that he has no objection to this request. 4 PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING CV-09-2158-CJC 1 2 3 4 11. There have been no prior requests for continuances with respect to the filing of petitioner’s Motion for Evidentiary Hearing. The foregoing is true and correct and executed under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States on November 1, 2010. 5 6 7 /s/ Michael Laurence____________ Michael Laurence 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 5 PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE HIS MOTION FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING CV-09-2158-CJC

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?