Carter v. State of Hawaii

Filing 3

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND DISMISSING PETITION WITH LEAVE TO AMEND re 1 - Signed by JUDGE LESLIE E. KOBAYASHI on 8/29/2024. (1) The Petition is DISMISSED with leave granted to amend on or before September 26, 2024< /U>. Failure to timely file an amended petition that cures the deficiencies noted above will result in dismissal of this action without prejudice. (2) If Carter elects to file an amended petition, he is ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why this action should not be dismissed. To show cause, Carter must file an amended petition on court forms that (a) names a proper respondent; and (b) explains the facts, federal bases, and exhaustion of his claims. (3) In the alternative, Carter may NOTIFY the court in writing on or before September 26, 2024, that he is voluntarily dismissing this action. If Carter chooses this option, he may timely file another petition after properly exhausting his claims in state court. (4) The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to send to Carter a blank Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Show Cause Response due by 9/26/2024. (eta)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII
SAMUEL CARTER,
#A0247045,
Petitioner,

Civil No. 24-00370 LEK-RT
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND
DISMISSING PETITION WITH
LEAVE TO AMEND

vs.
STATE OF HAWAII,
Respondent.
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND DISMISSING PETITION
WITH LEAVE TO AMEND
On August 26, 2024, the Court received from pro se Petitioner Samuel
Carter a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.1 ECF No. 1. In the Petition, Carter
challenges the amount of bail set in his pending state court criminal case. The
Court has reviewed the Petition pursuant to Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section
2254 Cases in the United States District Courts (“Habeas Rules”). Because the
Petition does not (1) name a proper respondent, and (2) show that Carter exhausted
his claims before bringing this action, it appears that Carter “is not entitled to relief
in the district court.” Habeas Rule 4. The Petition is DISMISSED with leave to

1

Carter is currently detained at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, a state facility. See
ECF No. 1 at PageID.1; see also VINE, https://vinelink.vineapps.com/search/HI/Person (select
“ID Number,” enter “A0247045,” and select “Search”) (last visited Aug. 27, 2024).

amend to allow Carter to cure its deficiencies and show cause why this action
should not be dismissed. In the alternative, Carter may voluntarily dismiss this
action. If Carter decides to dismiss this action, he may timely file another petition
after properly exhausting his claims in state court.
I.

BACKGROUND2

Carter is in pretrial custody at the Oahu Community Correctional Center
(“OCCC”), awaiting trial in state court in State v. Carter, No. 1CPC-22-0001081
(Haw. 1st Cir.).3 On August 30, 2022, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit issued
an Order Pertaining to Bail. Carter, No. 1CPC-22-0001081 (Haw. 1st Cir. Aug.
30, 2022), Dkt. 11. In that order, the circuit court ordered Carter to be “held
without bail.” Id.
On January 9, 2023, Carter filed a Motion for Supervised Release or, In the
Alternative, to Set Bail. Carter, No. 1CPC-22-0001081 (Haw. 1st Cir. Aug. 30,
2022), Dkt. 82. Following a hearing on that motion, the circuit court set bail at
$3.3 million. See Order Pertaining to Bail, Carter, No. 1CPC-22-0001081 (Haw.
1st Cir. Jan. 31, 2023), Dkt. 107.

2

These facts are taken from the Petition and Carter’s state court criminal docket.

3

See Hawaii State Judiciary, https://www.courts.state.hi.us/ (follow “eCourt Kokua*,” select
“Click Here to Enter eCourt* Kokua,” select “Case Search,” and enter “1CPC-22-0001081” in
“Case ID or Citation Number” field) (last visited Aug. 27, 2024).
2

On March 14, 2023, Carter filed a Motion for Supervised Release or, In the
Alternative, to Reduce Bail. See Carter, No. 1CPC-22-0001081 (Haw. 1st Cir.
Mar. 14, 2023), Dkt. 120. Specifically, Carter asked to reduce bail to $100,000.
Id. The circuit court denied Carter’s motion. See Order Denying Defendant’s
Motion for Supervised Release or, in the Alternative, to Reduce Bail, Carter, No.
1CPC-22-0001081 (Haw. 1st Cir. Sept. 1, 2023), Dkt. 205.
Carter appealed to the Intermediate Court of Appeals (“ICA”). See State v.
Carter, No. CAAP-23-0000444 (Haw. Ct. App. July 26, 2023). On March 6,
2024, the ICA issued a published opinion affirming in part and vacating in part the
circuit court’s September 1, 2023 order. State v. Carter, 546 P.3d 1210 (Haw. Ct.
App. 2024). As relevant here, the ICA concluded that the circuit court abused its
discretion in setting bail in the amount of $3.3 million. Id. at 1218–19. The ICA
remanded the case to the circuit court “to issue an order pertaining to bail and to
conduct any further proceedings as may be necessary.” Id. at 1219.
On April 25, 2024, Carter filed an Application for Writ of Certiorari that the
Hawaii Supreme Court denied on May 30, 2024. See State v. Carter, No. SCWC23-0000444 (Haw. May 30, 2024), Dkt. 7. Since noting during a July 16, 2024
hearing that the ICA had issued its decision and the Hawaii Supreme Court had
denied review, the circuit court has not yet issued its order related to Carter’s bail.

3

Carter signed the Petition on August 5, 2024. ECF No. 1 at PageID.5. In
the Petition, Carter asks the Court to “lower his bail to $100,000.” Id. On August
26, 2024, the Court received the $5.00 fee associated with this action. ECF No. 2.
II.
A.

DISCUSSION

Petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241
The Court may entertain a petition for writ of habeas corpus from a person

claiming to be “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the
United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3). Section 2241 allows “the Supreme Court,
any justice thereof, the district courts and any circuit judge” to grant writs of
habeas corpus “within their respective jurisdictions.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a). A
pretrial detainee’s challenge to a bail determination is properly raised under
28 U.S.C. § 2241. See Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1, 6-7 (1951); Arevalo v.
Hennessy, 882 F.3d 763, 767 (9th Cir. 2018).
A district court considering an application for a writ of habeas corpus shall
“award the writ or issue an order directing the respondent to show cause why the
writ should not be granted, unless it appears from the application that the applicant
or person detained is not entitled thereto.” 28 U.S.C. § 2243. Rule 4 of the Rules
Governing Section 2254 Cases, which applies to habeas petitions brought pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, requires a district court to summarily dismiss a habeas
petition if “it plainly appears from the petition and any attached exhibits that the
4

petitioner is not entitled to relief in the district court.” Habeas Rule 4; Valdez v.
Montgomery, 918 F.3d 687, 693 (9th Cir. 2019). “A district court should do so,
however, only after ‘provid[ing] the petitioner with adequate notice and an
opportunity to respond.’” Valdez, 918 F.3d at 693 (quoting Herbst v. Cook, 260
F.3d 1039, 1043 (9th Cir. 2001)) (alteration in original).
B.

Correct Respondent
A petitioner seeking a writ of habeas corpus must name as respondent “the

person who has custody over him[.]” 28 U.S.C. § 2242; see Habeas Rule 2(a) (“If
the petitioner is currently in custody under a state-court judgment, the petition must
name as respondent the state officer who has custody.”); Rumsfeld v. Padilla,
542 U.S. 426, 434–35 (2004); Smith v. Idaho, 392 F.3d 350, 354 (9th Cir. 2004).
The Supreme Court has explained that “there is generally only one proper
respondent to a given prisoner’s habeas petition.” Padilla, 542 U.S. at 434. This
is the person “with the ability to produce the prisoner’s body before the habeas
court.” Id. at 435 (citation omitted); see Brittingham v. United States, 982 F.2d
378, 379 (9th Cir. 1992) (per curiam) (“The proper respondent . . . is the
petitioner’s ‘immediate custodian’”—that is, “‘the person having day-to-day
control over the prisoner’”—because “[t]hat person is the only one who can
produce ‘the body’ of the petitioner.” (citations omitted)). Failure to name the

5

petitioner’s custodian as respondent deprives the district court of personal
jurisdiction over the custodian. See Smith, 392 F.3d at 354–55.
“[L]ongstanding practice confirms that in habeas challenges to present
physical confinement . . . the default rule is that the proper respondent is the
warden of the facility where the prisoner is being held[.]” Padilla, 542 U.S. at 434
(citations omitted); see Smith, 392 F.3d at 354; see also Stanley v. Cal. Sup. Ct., 21
F.3d 359, 360 (9th Cir. 1994) (stating that the proper respondent “typically is the
warden of the facility in which the petitioner is incarcerated” (citation omitted));
Habeas Rule 2 advisory committee note (stating that if the petitioner is in prison
due to the state action he is challenging, “[t]he named respondent shall be the state
officer who has official custody of the petitioner (for example, the warden of the
prison)”).4
Carter is currently incarcerated at the OCCC. Instead of naming as
respondent the warden of the OCCC, however, Carter names the State of Hawaii.
ECF No. 1 at PageID.1. Carter fails to explain how the State of Hawaii is his
“immediate custodian” or how it has “day-to-day control” over him. See

4

Prior to Padilla, the Ninth Circuit said that, for cases arising in California, the state officer
having custody of a petitioner may be either the warden of the institution in which the petitioner
is incarcerated or the chief officer in charge of state penal institutions. See Ortiz-Sandoval v.
Gomez, 81 F.3d 891, 894–96 (9th Cir. 1996); see also Eisermann v. Penarosa, 33 F. Supp. 2d
1269, 1271–72 (D. Haw. 1999) (noting the petitioner’s efforts to “name[ ] the Hawaii official
with the power to ‘produce the prisoner’” in the light of his being transferred multiple times, and
substituting the name of the Hawaii Director of Public Safety for an improperly named
respondent to avoid “put[ting] form over function” and “frustrat[ing] the ends of justice”).
6

Brittingham, 982 F.3d at 379; Padilla, 542 U.S. at 439–40. The Court therefore
finds no reason to abandon the default rule in this matter. See Padilla, 542 U.S. at
434. If Carter decides to proceed with this action, he must file an amended petition
naming a correct respondent. See Ah Puck v. Hawaii, Civ. No. 17-00173 DKWKJM, 2017 WL 2682074, at *1 (D. Haw. June 21, 2017); Kaopua v. Hawaii, Civ.
No. 10-00582 SOM/BMK, 2010 WL 4007663, at *1 (D. Haw. Oct. 12, 2010).
Even if Carter names the correct respondent, however, the Court must nevertheless
dismiss the Petition if Carter has not exhausted his state judicial remedies.
C.

Exhaustion
“[A] state prisoner must normally exhaust available state judicial remedies

before a federal court will entertain his petition for habeas corpus.” Picard v.
Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275 (1971) (citations omitted). A petitioner’s claims are
considered exhausted only after “the state courts [have been afforded] a
meaningful opportunity to consider allegations of legal error without interference
from the federal judiciary.” Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 257 (1986) (citing
Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 515 (1982)).
Although 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3) does not explicitly require exhaustion,
federal courts “require, as a prudential matter, that habeas petitioners exhaust
available judicial . . . remedies before seeking relief under § 2241.” Laing v.
Ashcroft, 370 F.3d 994, 997 (9th Cir. 2004) (citation omitted). “Where a petitioner
7

seeks pre-conviction habeas relief, [the] exhaustion prerequisite serves two
purposes: (1) to avoid isolating state courts from federal constitutional issues by
assuring those courts an ample opportunity to consider constitutional claims; and
(2) to prevent federal interference with state adjudication, especially state criminal
trials.” Carden v. Montana, 626 F.2d 82, 83–84 (9th Cir. 1980).
Although there is a narrow exception to the exhaustion requirement for
“special circumstances,” this is limited to “cases of proven harassment or
prosecutions undertaken by state officials in bad faith without hope of obtaining a
valid conviction and perhaps in other extraordinary circumstances where
irreparable injury can be shown.” Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 85 (1971).
Courts routinely hold that an excessive bail claim does not meet the “special
circumstances” standard. See, e.g., Kanongata’a v. Jones, 2020 WL 4674268, at
*2 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2020) (“Many courts have held that an excessive bail claim
does not meet the special circumstance standards.”); Dudley v. Niell, 2015 WL
6855635, at *4 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 9, 2015), adopted, 2015 WL 6809296 (N.D. Tex.
Nov. 6, 2015) (“[A] challenge to the reasonableness of a pretrial bond is
cognizable in a federal habeas corpus action after exhaustion of state court
remedies.”); Lazarus v. Baca, 2010 WL 1006572, at *6 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 17, 2010)
(abstaining from considering bail claim prior to exhaustion, noting “state

8

proceedings provide petitioner with an adequate opportunity to litigate her
constitutional claims.”), aff’d, 389 F. App’x 700 (9th Cir. 2010).
Carter has not exhausted his state judicial remedies. Although Carter
successfully argued in the ICA that his bail was unlawful, the circuit court has not
yet issued an order addressing bail since the ICA’s issued its decision.
Accordingly, Carter’s claims based on his bail are DISMISSED without prejudice
as unexhausted. See Pitts v. Summerville, Civil No. 20-00421 LEK-KJM, 2020
WL 6325705, at *2 (D. Haw. Oct. 28, 2020) (dismissing habeas petition based on
alleged excessive bail because petitioner failed to exhaust his claims); McCoy v.
Sequeira, Civ. No. 20-00384, 2020 WL 5604031, at *2 (Sept. 18, 2020 D. Haw.)
(same).
III.

CONCLUSION

(1) The Petition is DISMISSED with leave granted to amend on or before
September 26, 2024. Failure to timely file an amended petition that cures the
deficiencies noted above will result in dismissal of this action without prejudice.
(2) If Carter elects to file an amended petition, he is ORDERED TO SHOW
CAUSE why this action should not be dismissed. To show cause, Carter must file
an amended petition on court forms that (a) names a proper respondent; and (b)
explains the facts, federal bases, and exhaustion of his claims.

9

(3) In the alternative, Carter may NOTIFY the court in writing on or before
September 26, 2024, that he is voluntarily dismissing this action. If Carter chooses
this option, he may timely file another petition after properly exhausting his claims
in state court.
(4) The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to send to Carter a blank Petition for a
Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: August 29, 2024 at Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

SAMUEL CARTER VS. STATE OF HAWAII; CV 24-00370 LEK-RT;
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND DISMISSING PETITION FOR A WRIT
OF HABEAS CORPUS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND
10