Pizzuto v. Ramirez, No. 13-35443 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseAppellant, an Idaho state prisoner, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction and capital sentence for two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of grand theft. The district court denied the petition. Appellant subsequently filed a motion under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) and 60(d) for relief from the district court’s judgment, arguing (1) Martinez v. Ryan gives cause for the state-law procedural default of three of the claims he raised in his initial federal habeas petition; and (2) he was entitled to relief under Rules 60(b)(6) and 60(d)(3) because the state’s attorneys perpetrated a fraud on the federal district court. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Appellant’s claims related to judicial bias were not the type of claims that could be pursued under Martinez; (2) Appellant’s claim relating to his counsel’s conflict of interest did not satisfy this circuit’s test for establishing cause to excuse procedural default under Martinez; and (3) Appellant failed to establish a factual basis to show that the state Attorney General’s office perpetrated a fraud on the court during Appellant’s federal habeas proceedings.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus. The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of an Idaho state prisoner’s motion under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) and 60(d) for relief from a judgment denying his habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction and capital sentence for two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of grand theft. The panel concluded that the prisoner’s arguments – (1) that Martinez v. Ryan, 132 S. Ct. 1309 (2012), gives cause for the state-law procedural default of three of the claims he raised in his initial federal habeas petition, and (2) that the state’s lawyers perpetrated a fraud on the federal district court – fall within the scope of permissible Rule 60(b) motions and are not a disguised second or successive habeas corpus petition. The panel declined to extend Martinez to cover claims other than ineffective assistance of trial or appellate counsel to excuse procedural default. The panel held that the prisoner’s two claims detailing the alleged biases and errors of a state court judge who presided over the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial are not the type of claims that can be pursued under Martinez. The panel held that the prisoner’s claim that his trial and appellate attorney had a conflict of interest based on his relationship with the state trial judge is a Sixth Amendment ineffective-assistance-of- PIZZUTO V. RAMIREZ 3 counsel claim eligible for consideration under Martinez. But the panel held that the conflict-of-interest claim is unsupported by the record and thus does not establish cause to excuse procedural default. The panel held that the prisoner’s contention that the state Attorney General’s office perpetrated a fraud on the district court has so little basis in the record as to be wholly unpersuasive. The panel therefore agreed with the district court’s denial of the prisoner’s motion under Rules 60(b) and 60(d) for relief on that basis.
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