John E. Neal, Petitioner-appellant, v. Attorney General of the State of Arizona, William Gastelum,warden, Respondents-appellees, 944 F.2d 909 (9th Cir. 1991)

Annotate this Case
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 944 F.2d 909 (9th Cir. 1991) Submitted Sept. 11, 1991. *Decided Sept. 16, 1991

Before CANBY and KOZINSKI, Circuit Judges, and HUFF**  District Judge.

MEMORANDUM*** 

Neal's habeas corpus petition failed to name as respondent the party having custody of him. His failure to name that party is a fatal defect. King v. California, 356 F.2d 950 (9th Cir. 1966). The defect may be cured by amending the petition. Ashley v. Washington, 394 F.2d 125, 125 n. 1 (9th Cir. 1968). The district court twice instructed Neal that he had to amend his petition to name his parole or probation officer, the person having custody over him, as a respondent. Neal failed to follow the court's directives. The district court accordingly did not err in dismissing Neal's petition and in denying his request for rehearing.

AFFIRMED.

 *

The panel unanimously finds the case appropriate for submission without argument pursuant to Fed.R.App. 34(a) and Ninth Circuit Rule 34-4

 **

The Honorable Marilyn Huff, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, sitting by designation

 ***

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Circuit Rule 36-3

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.