Gonzalez v. Williams et al

Filing 31

ORDER Granting 30 Motion to Extend Time re: 10 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Replies due by 3/20/2018. Signed by Judge Richard F. Boulware, II on 2/7/2018. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - ADR)

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7 RENE L. VALLADARES Federal Public Defender Nevada State Bar No. 11479 JEREMY C. BARON Assistant Federal Public Defender District of Columbia Bar No. 1021801 411 E. Bonneville Ave. Suite 250 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 388-6577 (702) 388-6419 (fax) jeremy_baron@fd.org 8 Attorneys for Petitioner Hector Miguel Gonzalez 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 11 12 HECTOR MIGUEL GONZALEZ, Petitioner, 13 14 v. 15 BRIAN WILLIAMS, et al., 16 Respondents. Case No. 2:15-cv-00618-RFB-CWH UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME IN WHICH TO FILE REPLY IN SUPPORT OF PETITION (Third Request) 17 18 Petitioner Hector Gonzalez, by and through his attorney of record, Assistant 19 Federal Public Defender Jeremy C. Baron, hereby moves this Court for an extension 20 of time of sixty (60) days, from January 19, 2018, to and including March 20, 2018, in 21 which to file a reply in support of Mr. Gonzalez’s petition. This motion is based upon 22 the attached points and authorities and all pleadings and papers on file herein. 23 24 25 26 POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 1 2 1. Mr. Gonzalez filed his pro se federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus 3 in this Court on or about January 16, 2015. ECF No. 10. The respondents filed a 4 motion to dismiss on June 20, 2016. ECF No. 13. The Court issued an order finding 5 certain of the claims to be unexhausted on March 31, 2017. ECF No. 20. The Court 6 appointed counsel on behalf of Mr. Gonzalez and ordered Mr. Gonzalez to either 7 abandon the unexhausted grounds, dismiss his petition, or seek a stay. Id. at 8. 8 Undersigned counsel filed a notice of representation on May 1, 2017 (ECF No. 21), 9 and Mr. Gonzalez filed a declaration that he intended to abandon his unexhausted 10 claims on May 30, 2017 (ECF No. 22). The respondents filed an answer on August 11 22, 2017. ECF No. 25. The current deadline for Mr. Gonzalez to file a reply in support 12 of his petition is January 19, 2018. 13 2. Undersigned counsel has been reviewing Mr. Gonzalez’s file and the 14 respondents’ answer in an effort to comply with the Court’s deadline. However, 15 counsel respectfully suggests that additional time is necessary to properly prepare 16 Mr. Gonzalez’s reply. 17 3. Many claims in Mr. Gonzalez’s petition survived the respondents’ 18 motion to dismiss, increasing the complexity of the reply. In addition, Mr. Gonzalez 19 filed a pro se petition in this case, and the Court did not require him to file a counseled 20 amended petition. As a result, the preparation of a reply in the instant case may 21 necessitate additional review and effort compared to a case in which a petitioner has 22 filed a detailed and thorough counseled amended petition. 23 4. The Office of the Federal Public Defender has recently assigned 24 undersigned counsel to a number of new cases. Undersigned counsel’s preliminary 25 review of those new cases suggests that at least three of them involve clients who 26 have time remaining under the federal statute of limitations for habeas proceedings, 2 1 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Because of the legal significance of the statute of limitations, 2 and out of a desire to prepare, file, and serve complete and thorough amended 3 petitions in those cases before the expiration of the statute of limitations, undersigned 4 counsel has in recent weeks been prioritizing his review of the files in those cases. 5 Thus, additional time is necessary to prepare the reply in the instant case. 6 4. Undersigned counsel has had many professional obligations in recent 7 weeks, including, among others, an amended petition filed on November 6, 2017, in 8 Matlean v. Williams, Case No. 3:16-cv-00233-HDM-VPC (D. Nev.); an opposition to a 9 motion to dismiss filed on November 6, 2017, in Castillo v. Baker, Case No. 3:13-cv- 10 00704-LRH-VPC (D. Nev.), an opposition in which the client is asserting his actual 11 innocence of first-degree murder; a supplemental opening brief filed on November 9, 12 2017, in LaPena v. Grigas, Case No. 15-16154 (9th Cir.), a 40-year-old case in which 13 the Ninth Circuit granted a certificate of appealability regarding the client’s actual 14 innocence within the meaning of Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 417 (1993), and 15 that required extensive review of multiple multi-week trials, evidentiary hearings, 16 trial court and appellate court pleadings, and other documents (counsel requested 17 leave to file this brief as an overlength brief on October 16, 2017, which the Ninth 18 Circuit denied; counsel filed the corrected brief on November 9, 2017); an application 19 for a certificate of appealability filed on November 16, 2017, in Bynoe v. Baca, Case 20 No. 17-17012 (9th Cir.); an opposition to a motion to dismiss filed on November 27, 21 2017, in Bradford v. Baker, Case No. 2:13-cv-01784-GMN-GWF (D. Nev.), an 22 opposition in which the client is asserting his actual innocence of first-degree murder; 23 a second amended petition filed on December 6, 2017, and motions for leave to 24 conduct discovery and for an evidentiary hearing filed on January 17, 2018, in Sawyer 25 v. Baker, Case No. 3:16-cv-00627-MMD-WGC (D. Nev.); a motion for leave to conduct 26 discovery filed on January 17, 2018, in Howard v. Wickham, Case No. 3:16-cv-00665- 3 1 HDM-VPC (D. Nev.); and various obligations in connection with discovery authorized 2 by the Court in Slaughter v. Baker, Case No. 3:16-cv-00721-RCJ-WGC (D. Nev.). 3 5. Undersigned counsel has many additional professional obligations in 4 the coming weeks, including, among others, an amended petition due on January 22, 5 2018, in Esquivel v. Williams, Case No. 2:17-cv-02227-RFB-PAL (D. Nev.); an 6 opposition to a motion to dismiss due on January 22, 2018, in Matlean v. Williams, 7 Case No. 3:16-cv-00233-HDM-VPC (D. Nev.); a second amended petition due on 8 January 28, 2018, in Barragan v. Filson, Case No. 3:17-cv-00453-LRH-VPC (D. Nev.); 9 an opening brief due on January 30, 2018, in Banuelos v. Smith, Case No. 17-164889 10 (9th Cir.); and a reply brief due on January 31, 2018, in LaPena v. Grigas, Case No. 11 15-16154 (9th Cir.). 12 6. Therefore, counsel seeks an additional sixty (60) days, up to and 13 including March 20, 2018, in which to file the reply in support of the petition. This 14 is undersigned counsel’s third request for an extension of time in which to file Mr. 15 Gonzalez’s reply. 16 6. On January 18, 2018, counsel contacted Deputy Attorney General 17 Natasha M. Gebrael and informed her of this request for an extension of time. As a 18 matter of professional courtesy, Ms. Gebrael had no objection to the request. Ms. 19 Gebrael’s lack of objection should not be considered as a waiver of any procedural 20 defenses or statute of limitations challenges, or construed as agreeing with the 21 accuracy of the representations in this motion. 22 7. This motion is not filed for the purpose of delay, but in the interests of 23 justice, as well as in the interest of Mr. Gonzalez. 24 respectfully requests that this Court grant this motion and order Mr. Gonzalez to file 25 the reply no later than March 20, 2018. 26 4 Counsel for Mr. Gonzalez 1 DATED this 19th day of January, 2018. 2 Respectfully submitted, 3 4 RENE L. VALLADARES Federal Public Defender 5 /s/ Jeremy C. Baron 6 JEREMY C. BARON Assistant Federal Public Defender 7 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED: 10 11 __________________________ ______________________________ RICHARD F. BOULWARE, II United States District Judge United States District Court 12 13 February 7, 2018. Dated: ________________________ 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 5 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I hereby certify that on January 19, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing 3 with the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court, District of Nevada 4 by using the CM/ECF system. 5 6 Participants in the case who are registered CM/ECF users will be served by the CM/ECF system and include: Natasha M. Gebrael. 7 I further certify that some of the participants in the case are not registered 8 CM/ECF users. I have mailed the foregoing document by First-Class Mail, postage 9 pre-paid, or have dispatched it to a third party commercial carrier for delivery within 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 three calendar days, to the following non-CM/ECF participants: Hector Miguel Gonzalez No. 1055141 Southern Desert Correctional Center P.O. Box 208 Indian Springs, NV 89070 /s/ Jessica Pillsbury An Employee of the Federal Public Defender 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 6

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