Walker v. Uribe
Filing
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ORDER DENYING 45 Motion for Reconsideration, signed by District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on 08/04/2021. (Maldonado, C)
Case 1:11-cv-00585-AWI-SKO Document 46 Filed 08/04/21 Page 1 of 3
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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MICHAEL E. WALKER, II,
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Petitioner,
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Case No.: 1:11-cv-00585-AWI-SKO (HC)
ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR
RECONSIDERATION
v.
[Doc. No. 45]
P. D. BRAZELTON, Warden,
Respondent.
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Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding in propria persona with a petition for writ of
habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
On March 19, 2013, the Court dismissed the petition with prejudice as untimely. (Doc.
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No. 39.) Judgment was entered the same date and the case was closed. (Doc. No. 40.) On July
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29, 2021, Petitioner filed the instant motion for reconsideration. (Doc. No. 45.)
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DISCUSSION
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) governs the reconsideration of final orders of the
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district court. Rule 60(b) permits a district court to relieve a party from a final order or judgment
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on grounds of: “(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered
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evidence . . .; (3) fraud . . . of an adverse party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has
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been satisfied . . . or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.”
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Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). A motion under Rule 60(b) must be made within a reasonable time, in any
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Case 1:11-cv-00585-AWI-SKO Document 46 Filed 08/04/21 Page 2 of 3
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event “not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.” Id.
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Moreover, when filing a motion for reconsideration, Local Rule 230(j) requires a party to
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show the “new or different facts or circumstances claimed to exist which did not exist or were not
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shown upon such prior motion, or what other grounds exist for the motion.” Motions to
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reconsider are committed to the discretion of the trial court. Combs v. Nick Garin Trucking, 825
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F.2d 437, 441 (D.C.Cir. 1987); Rodgers v. Watt, 722 F.2d 456, 460 (9th Cir. 1983) (en banc). To
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succeed, a party must set forth facts or law of a strongly convincing nature to induce the court to
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reverse its prior decision. See, e.g., Kern-Tulare Water Dist. v. City of Bakersfield, 634 F.Supp.
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656, 665 (E.D.Cal. 1986), aff’d in part and rev’d in part on other grounds, 828 F.2d 514 (9th Cir.
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1987).
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Petitioner contends that the order concluding the petition to be untimely should be
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reconsidered in light of the California Supreme Court’s decision in Robinson v. Lewis, 9 Cal.5th
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883 (2020). In Robinson, the California Supreme Court held that a “petition filed in a higher
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court within 120 days of the lower court’s denial will never be considered untimely due to gap
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delay.” Id., at 901. Beyond that period, however, the normal In re Robbins, 18 Cal.4th 770, 780
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(1998), analysis applies. Id. Petitioner argues that since he filed his first state habeas petition
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with 26 days remaining in the state of limitations, the Court should find his petition was timely
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filed. Petitioner’s argument is not persuasive.
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Although Petitioner is correct that 26 days remained in the limitations period when he
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filed his first state habeas petition, this period of time is not the relevant time period for purposes
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of gap tolling. Rather, it is the time between the denial of the state habeas petition and the
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subsequent filing of a new petition in the higher state court. In this case, Petitioner delayed from
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the denial of the first state petition on December 22, 2010, until June 6, 2011, which was a period
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of approximately five and one-half months. This is well beyond the 120 days the California
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Supreme Court considers to be a “safe harbor” and timely under Robinson. Thus, the question, as
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it was before, is whether the five and one-half months gap was unreasonable. Petitioner makes no
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argument calling the Court’s previous untimeliness determination into question. He has not
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shown “new or different facts or circumstances claimed to exist which did not exist or were not
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Case 1:11-cv-00585-AWI-SKO Document 46 Filed 08/04/21 Page 3 of 3
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shown upon such prior motion, or what other grounds exist for the motion.” Local Rule 230(j).
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Moreover, Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration is well beyond the one-year deadline permitted
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under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b).
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ORDER
Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration (Doc.
No. 45) is DENIED.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: August 4, 2021
SENIOR DISTRICT JUDGE
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