In re Ransom on Habeas Corpus CA3

BACKGROUND

One evening in January 2019 during mealtime, while Ransom was serving his 50- year-to-life sentence, correctional officers approached his cell and ordered him to submit to handcuffs because an officer on duty in the control booth reported that she saw Ransom sitting on the lower bunk in his cell, staring at her while grasping his exposed, erect penis, and moving his hand up and down. When prison authorities formally charged Ransom with committing indecent exposure in violation of prison rules (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3000),1 he requested an investigation. In January 2021, Officer Madrigal submitted a report detailing the results of his investigation that began in December 2020.2 Pertinent here, the report explained that Ransom told Officer Madrigal he did not “deliberately and lewdly expose [his] penis” to the reporting officer, and her accusation that he did was undermined by (1) the distance from his cell to where the reporting officer was stationed and (2) the presence of metal cross beams that covered the windows. Officer Madrigal explained to Ransom that he was to be a fact finder for the hearing officer, and he would interview all requested witnesses, but…