Watson v. Diaz
- Susan Illston
- 3:20-cv-06318
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Watson v. Diaz, Judge Illston ordered petitioner to sign his habeas petition and required respondent to address possible untimeliness.
Kenneth Earl Watson must personally sign and return the petition to proceed. Ralph Diaz, the respondent, must address the possible filing deadline problem. The court has not yet decided Watson’s underlying claims.
What happened
Kenneth Earl Watson, an incarcerated person, asked the court to review his state murder conviction through a federal petition. His wife signed and filed the petition for him because of pandemic-related prison-visit restrictions and concerns about mail.
The court said the petition may have been filed more than one year after Watson’s conviction became final, which could make it too late under the federal law governing these petitions. The court did not decide whether the petition was untimely or whether Watson’s underlying claims had merit.
Judge Susan Illston ordered the respondent to file either a request to dismiss the petition as untimely or a notice saying dismissal was unwarranted. She also required Watson to sign and return the petition himself by December 14, 2020, warning that failure to do so would result in dismissal.
The detailed version
- Watson v. Diaz · No. 3:20-cv-06318
- Susan Illston
- Nov. 21, 2020
Background
Kenneth Earl Watson filed this self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, asking for federal review of his state-court custody. The petition states that he was convicted in San Mateo County Superior Court of first-degree murder with sentence enhancements and was sentenced in January 2009 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction in July 2010. A petition for review filed in 2019 was rejected as untimely. The opinion also states that Watson apparently filed state post-conviction petitions in 2019 and later.
The federal petition was filed on September 4, 2020, but Watson’s wife signed and filed it for him. The opinion says her first name was illegible. She cited pandemic-related visiting restrictions and unspecified concerns about prison mail, but she did not show that Watson was unable to pursue the case himself.
Possible Filing Deadline Problem
Federal law generally requires a state prisoner’s habeas petition to be filed within one year after the conviction becomes final, subject to specified exceptions and exclusion of time while a properly filed state post-conviction application is pending. The court concluded that Watson’s petition may have been filed more than one year after his conviction became final. It directed the respondent to address that issue before the court considers the petition’s underlying claims.
Signature Requirement
The court explained that a habeas petition must be signed and verified by the person seeking relief or by someone who qualifies to act as a “next friend.” A next friend must explain why the person seeking relief cannot appear personally and must show dedication to that person’s interests. The court found that Watson’s wife had not made the required showing. It therefore required Watson to sign and return a copy of the petition himself.
Order
The court ordered the respondent to file and serve either a motion to dismiss the petition as untimely or a notice stating that such a motion was unwarranted by February 5, 2021. Watson’s opposition would be due March 12, 2021, and any reply would be due April 1, 2021. No hearing would be held on the motion. If no dismissal motion was filed or the motion was decided against the respondent, the court would then determine whether to require an answer to the petition.
The clerk was also ordered to mail Watson a copy of the petition. Watson had to sign and return the signature page by December 14, 2020, if he wished to continue. The order stated that failing to do so would result in dismissal. The court did not rule on the petition’s merits or dismiss the case at this stage.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.