Ashmus v. Ayers
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:93-cv-00594
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Ashmus v. Broomfield, Judge Rogers dismissed Troy Adam Ashmus’s petition with prejudice after his death made the case moot.
Troy Adam Ashmus’s petition was dismissed after his death; the respondent and the court case were affected by the dismissal and closure of the file.
What happened
Ashmus v. Broomfield concerned Troy Adam Ashmus’s petition challenging his custody. His lawyer told the court that Ashmus died on July 20, 2020.
The court said that a petitioner’s death makes a petition challenging custody moot, meaning there is no longer a live dispute for the court to decide.
The court lifted the existing stay, dismissed the petition with prejudice, ordered the file closed, and entered the order on July 23, 2020. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued the ruling.
The detailed version
- Ashmus v. Ayers · No. 4:93-cv-00594
- Yvonne Rogers
- July 23, 2020
Background
Troy Adam Ashmus was the petitioner in a death-penalty case. His counsel notified the court that Ashmus died on July 20, 2020. Ron Broomfield, identified in the caption as the warden of California State Prison at San Quentin, was the respondent.
Court’s reasoning
The court held that the death of a habeas petitioner makes the petition moot. A moot case no longer presents a live dispute for the court to decide. The court relied on decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Disposition
The court lifted the stay that had been entered on July 9, 2014. It dismissed the petition for a writ of habeas corpus with prejudice and directed the clerk to close the file. The order was signed by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.