Lister v. Cox et al
Filing
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ORDERED that respondents' # 13 Motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows: 1. Grounds 2 and 3 are DISMISSED as duplicative of ground 1. 2. Ground 1 is EXHAUSTED. FURTHER ORD respondents shall file an answer to remaining ground for relief by 10/30/2014. FURTHER ORD petitioner shall have 30 days following service answer in which to file a reply. Signed by Judge Robert C. Jones on 9/30/2014. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - DRM)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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J.C. LISTER,
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Petitioner,
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vs.
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JAMES GREG COX, et al.,
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Respondents.
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3:12-cv-00456-RCJ-VPC
ORDER
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This is a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in which
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petitioner, a state prisoner, is proceeding pro se. Before the court is respondents’ motion to dismiss
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(ECF #13). Petitioner filed a response (ECF #18), and respondents replied (ECF #20).
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I. Procedural History and Background
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On July 22, 2010, petitioner J.C. Lister (“petitioner”) was charged in an information
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with two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, in violation of NRS 453.3385(2), a category
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B felony, the first count for methamphetamine and the second count for cocaine (ex. 18).1
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All exhibits referenced in this order are exhibits to respondents’ motion to dismiss, ECF #13,
and are found at ECF #s 15-16.
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On August 10, 2010, petitioner pleaded guilty to trafficking a controlled substance (ex.
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23). On that day, the guilty plea agreement was filed. In exchange for petitioner’s guilty plea to count
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I of the information, the State agreed to dismiss count II. The parties were free to argue at sentencing
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(ex. 22).
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On May 10, 2011, the state district court sentenced petitioner to serve a minimum term
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of sixty (60) months to a maximum term of one hundred fifty (150) months in the Nevada State Prison
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consecutive to the sentence imposed in federal case no. 3:10-cr-00071-LRH-RAM (ex. 47). The
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judgment of conviction was filed on May 18, 2011 (ex. 48).
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Petitioner appealed and claimed that both the federal and state government initiated
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multiple transactions for drugs in multiple jurisdictions which constituted sentencing entrapment and
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that such outrageous government conduct violated “fundamental fairness principles” (ex.’s 51, 57 at 1).
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Petitioner contended that while he was predisposed to commit the crime, the government’s conduct was
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sufficiently outrageous to mandate a concurrent sentence. He also argued that the state district judge
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failed to make express findings with respect to sentence entrapment (ex. 57 at 3). The state filed its fast-
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track response on August 22, 2011 (ex. 60). On November 18, 2011, the Nevada Supreme Court
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affirmed the judgment of conviction (ex. 61). Remittitur issued on December 15, 2011 (ex. 63).
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Petitioner states that on August 22, 2012, he mailed or handed to a correctional officer
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for mailing his federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 by a person in
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state custody (ECF #7 at 1). Respondents argue that the petition should be dismissed because all
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grounds are unexhausted.
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II. Legal Standard - Exhaustion
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A federal court will not grant a state prisoner’s petition for habeas relief until the prisoner
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has exhausted his available state remedies for all claims raised. Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509 (1982);
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28 U.S.C. § 2254(b). A petitioner must give the state courts a fair opportunity to act on each of his
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claims before he presents those claims in a federal habeas petition. O’Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S.
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838, 844 (1999); see also Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365 (1995). A claim remains unexhausted
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until the petitioner has given the highest available state court the opportunity to consider the claim
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through direct appeal or state collateral review proceedings. See Casey v. Moore, 386 F.3d 896, 916
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(9th Cir. 2004); Garrison v. McCarthey, 653 F.2d 374, 376 (9th Cir. 1981).
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A habeas petitioner must “present the state courts with the same claim he urges upon the
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federal court.” Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 276 (1971). The federal constitutional implications of
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a claim, not just issues of state law, must have been raised in the state court to achieve exhaustion.
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Ybarra v. Sumner, 678 F. Supp. 1480, 1481 (D. Nev. 1988) (citing Picard, 404 U.S. at 276)). To
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achieve exhaustion, the state court must be “alerted to the fact that the prisoner [is] asserting claims
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under the United States Constitution” and given the opportunity to correct alleged violations of the
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prisoner’s federal rights. Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365 (1995); see Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d
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1098, 1106 (9th Cir. 1999). It is well settled that 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b) “provides a simple and clear
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instruction to potential litigants: before you bring any claims to federal court, be sure that you first have
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taken each one to state court.” Jiminez v. Rice, 276 F.3d 478, 481 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Rose v.
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Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 520 (1982)). “[G]eneral appeals to broad constitutional principles, such as due
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process, equal protection, and the right to a fair trial, are insufficient to establish exhaustion.” Hiivala
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v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1106 (9th Cir. 1999) (citations omitted). However, citation to state caselaw
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that applies federal constitutional principles will suffice. Peterson v. Lampert, 319 F.3d 1153, 1158 (9th
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Cir. 2003) (en banc).
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A claim is not exhausted unless the petitioner has presented to the state court the same
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operative facts and legal theory upon which his federal habeas claim is based. Bland v. California Dept.
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Of Corrections, 20 F.3d 1469, 1473 (9th Cir. 1994). The exhaustion requirement is not met when the
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petitioner presents to the federal court facts or evidence which place the claim in a significantly different
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posture than it was in the state courts, or where different facts are presented at the federal level to
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support the same theory. See Nevius v. Sumner, 852 F.2d 463, 470 (9th Cir. 1988); Pappageorge v.
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Sumner, 688 F.2d 1294, 1295 (9th Cir. 1982); Johnstone v. Wolff, 582 F. Supp. 455, 458 (D. Nev. 1984).
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III. Petition in the Instant Case
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A. Ground 1
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In ground 1 of the federal petition, petitioner alleges that federal and state government
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agents acted in concert and initiated multiple transactions for drugs in multiple jurisdictions and that
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state task force agents used federal ATF funds to purchase the controlled substances involved in the state
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case (ECF #7 at 3). He further contends that state task force agents enticed him to travel from Washoe
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County to Pershing County in order to find a jurisdiction sympathetic to their mission involving
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outrageous government conduct and sentencing entrapment and manipulation. Id. Judge Wagner failed
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to make findings of facts on this issue and then sentenced petitioner to a term to run consecutive to his
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federal sentence. Id. Petitioner alleges that these actions violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment
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rights to fundamental fairness and due process. Id.
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B. Ground 2
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Petitioner alleges that a federal agent arranged for Nevada agents to entice him to travel
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to Pershing County, state agents used federal funds to purchase controlled substances from him, and that
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he was the target of a federal/state sting operation (ECF #7 at 5). He contends that this “outrageous
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government conduct” resulted in his consecutive sentences. Id. He claims violations of his Fifth and
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Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from outrageous conduct and due process. Id.
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C. Ground 3
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Petitioner asserts that his rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment to be free
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from sentence entrapment and to due process have been violated because the federal and state agencies
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acted in concert with each other to arrange multiple drug transactions in multiple diverse jurisdictions
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so as to accomplish their mission of consecutive sentences for petitioner (ECF#7 at 7). He also alleges
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that Judge Wagner failed to make factual findings on petitioner’s claims of violations of fundamental
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fairness by outrageous government conduct and sentencing entrapment. Id.
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IV. Exhaustion of Grounds 1-3
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First, the court dismisses grounds 2 and 3 as duplicative of ground 1. Next, respondents
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assert that all three grounds (now considered ground 1 by this court) of petitioner’s federal petition are
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unexhausted (ECF #13 at 8-11). In his direct appeal, petitioner argued that federal and state agents
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initiated multiple transactions for drugs in multiple jurisdictions, which constituted sentencing
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entrapment (ex. 57 at 7). He acknowledged that he was predisposed to commit the crime but contended
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that such outrageous government conduct violated fundamental fairness principles so as to mandate a
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concurrent sentence. Id.
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Petitioner may claim he exhausted state remedies only if his federal claim was “fairly
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presented” to the Nevada Supreme Court. Arrendondo v. Neven, No. 11-15581, 2014 WL 4056516, at
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*12 (9th Cir. Aug. 18, 2014). A federal claim is not fairly presented unless the petitioner alerts the state
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court to his federal claim explicitly or implicitly, such as by “citing in conjunction with the claim . . .
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a case deciding such a claim on federal grounds.” Baldwin v. Reese, 541 U.S. 27, 32 (2004).
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Respondents are correct that petitioner did not explicitly base his claims on direct appeal on the Fifth
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or Fourteenth Amendments. However, he relied on two United States Supreme Court cases, Hampton
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v. United States, 425 U.S. 484 (1976) and U.S. v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423 (1973), as well as several Ninth
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Circuit opinions on entrapment and sentencing entrapment (ex. 57 at 7-8). In Russell, the Court
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discussed the defense of entrapment and noted that the government’s conduct there violated no
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independent constitutional right of the respondent and that entrapment is a non-constitutional defense.
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425 U.S. at 430, 432-433. However, the Court also analyzed whether law enforcement’s conduct in that
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case was so outrageous as to violate fundamental fairness and shock the universal sense of justice, and
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therefore, run afoul of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 432. The Court
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ultimately determined that the conduct at issue did not rise to that level, and in fact, was “scarcely
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objectionable.” Id. Nevertheless, the Court addressed the federal constitutional due process argument,
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and therefore, petitioner’s citation to the case in his direct appeal is sufficient to exhaust his petition. See
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Lyons v. Crawford, 232 F.3d 666, 670 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding that a petitioner exhausts state remedies
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by either referencing specific provisions of the federal constitution or citing federal case law), amended
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on other grounds, 247 F.3d 904 (9th Cir. 2001). Accordingly, the court rejects respondents’ contention
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that petitioner has failed to exhaust ground 1, and therefore, respondents’ motion to dismiss is denied
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as to ground 1.
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V. Conclusion
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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that respondents’ motion to dismiss (ECF #13) is
GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows:
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1. Grounds 2 and 3 are DISMISSED as duplicative of ground 1.
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2. Ground 1 is EXHAUSTED.
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that respondents shall have thirty (30) days from the
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date of this order in which to file an answer to petitioner’s remaining ground for relief. The answer shall
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contain all substantive and procedural arguments as to all surviving grounds of the petition, and shall
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comply with Rule 5 of the Rules Governing Proceedings in the United States District Courts under 28
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U.S.C. §2254.
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that petitioner shall have thirty (30) days following
service of respondents’ answer in which to file a reply.
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Dated this ______ day of September, 2014.
Dated this 30th day of September, 2014.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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