Schmitt v. Obenland

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 10 JACOB IVAN SCHMITT, CASE NO. 3:18-cv-05602-BHS-JRC 11 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 12 v. CONTINUE STAY 13 MIKE OBENLAND, 14 Respondent.

16 The District Court has referred this petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed under 28 17 U.S.C. § 2254 to United States Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura. See Dkt. 3. The authority for the referral is 28 U.S.C. §§ 636(b)(1)(A) and (B) and local Magistrate Judge Rules 3 and 4.

19 Petitioner filed this petition in July 2018. See Dkt. 1. This Court subsequently granted respondent’s motion to stay—and then extended the stay twice, until January 10, 2020—on the basis that petitioner was still exhausting his state court remedies. See Dkt. 16. Petitioner did not object to either the initial motion to stay or to the later extensions of the stay. See Dkt.

1 Respondent again requests an extension of the stay on the basis that petitioner’s personal restraint petition (“PRP”) “remains pending in the court of appeals and will likely remain pending in the foreseeable future.” Dkt. 17, at 2. Respondent has provided information about petitioner’s PRP status in the state court of appeals to support its request. See Dkt. 17-1. Again, petitioner does not object. See Dkt.

6 This Court may stay consideration of a habeas petition to allow a petitioner to exhaust his remedies in state court before returning to federal court. See Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 69, 274– 79 (2005). Because petitioner is still exhausting his state court remedies, the undersigned finds good cause to grant respondent’s request. Therefore, it is ORDERED, 10 (1) Respondent’s motion to continue the stay (Dkt. 17) is granted, and the stay in this matter is extended to June 5, 2020. Respondent shall file a report advising the Court of the status of petitioner’s state court relief and, if necessary, a motion to extend the stay on or before May 22, 2020.

14 (2) Should the state court terminate review of petitioner’s state court filing, either petitioner or respondent shall inform the Court and request that the stay be lifted within 30 days of the state court’s decision.

17 (3) The Clerk shall note the deadlines set by this Order on the docket for this matter.

18 Dated this 6th day of January, 2020 A J. Richard Creatura United States Magistrate Judge