Causey v. Alameda County Superior Court
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:22-cv-00265
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Causey v. Alameda County Superior Court, Judge Rogers granted Causey’s filing-fee request and ordered him to explain why his confinement challenge should not be dismissed.
Lamar Causey’s federal petition challenging his state-court custody was affected. The Alameda County Superior Court was named as the respondent, but the order did not decide the underlying challenge.
What happened
In Causey v. Alameda County Superior Court, Lamar Causey, a state prisoner representing himself, filed a petition asking a federal court to review his state-court conviction and confinement.
Causey said he had not appealed his conviction in state court. The court explained that he generally must first present his claims to the California Supreme Court before raising them in federal court.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted Causey’s request to proceed without paying filing fees and ordered him to respond within 28 days. He must show that his claims were exhausted or file an amended petition raising exhausted claims; otherwise, the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
The detailed version
- Causey v. Alameda County Superior Court · No. 4:22-cv-00265
- Yvonne Rogers
- Feb. 15, 2022
Background
Lamar Causey, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 asking the federal court to review his state-court custody. The opinion states that he was convicted in Alameda County and that he had not appealed his conviction in state court. He also asked to proceed without paying filing fees.
Exhaustion requirement
A federal court generally cannot consider a state prisoner’s challenge to the fact or length of confinement until the prisoner has presented the claims to the state’s highest court. This requirement is called exhaustion. The court explained that a petition containing only claims that have not been exhausted must be dismissed, and that such a petition cannot be held while the prisoner pursues state remedies.
The court stated that Causey’s petition appeared to be fully unexhausted. It did not decide whether his underlying claims were legally valid.
Ruling
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted Causey’s motion to proceed without paying filing fees. The court ordered Causey to show cause within 28 days of the order’s filing date why the petition should not be dismissed without prejudice as unexhausted. The court gave him the opportunity to demonstrate that his claims had been exhausted or to file an amended petition raising exhausted claims. The order states that failing to respond within the designated time will result in dismissal of the action. The order did not itself dismiss the petition.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.