Shannon Cortney Nevels v. Warden Ken Clark

Background

Shannon Cortney Nevels, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He also asked to proceed without paying the filing fee and consented to a magistrate judge's jurisdiction.

Nevels stated that he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2014 and did not appeal the conviction. He later filed a state habeas petition in the Superior Court of Alameda County on December 30, 2019; that petition was denied on February 28, 2020.

Claim and Analysis

Nevels's only claim sought to vacate, modify, or strike the restitution imposed as part of his sentence, based on a state bill that he said had become law.

The court explained that federal habeas relief requires two custody-related conditions. The petitioner must be in custody, and the claim must have a connection to the unlawful nature of that custody. Success must be capable of changing the restraint on the petitioner's liberty.

The court held that a claim challenging only restitution did not meet the second condition. Even if the restitution fine were set aside, that would not affect the prison restraint while Nevels still had to serve the remainder of his sentence. The court therefore stated that Nevels could not proceed with that claim.

The court also stated that the action appeared untimely and unexhausted. Federal petitions challenging noncapital state convictions or sentences generally must be filed within the applicable one-year limitations period. The court observed that Nevels's 2014 conviction meant the case appeared to have been filed many years after that period expired. The court further explained that a state prisoner must generally present each federal claim to the highest available state court before seeking federal habeas relief. Because Nevels identified only a petition to the Alameda County Superior Court, the court said he would need to present his claim to the California Supreme Court to exhaust it.

Disposition

The court granted leave to proceed without paying the filing fee. It dismissed the petition with leave to amend and ordered that any amended petition be filed within 28 days of service of the order, using the required caption and case number and labeling the first page "AMENDED PETITION." The order stated that failure to amend within that period would result in dismissal of the claims. It also required Nevels to keep the court informed of address changes and warned that failure to comply could result in dismissal for failure to prosecute.

Judge Information

The opinion is signed by United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Illman.