BOARD OF PRISON TERMS v. Superior Court

I. INTRODUCTION

In these original proceedings, the Board of Prison Terms (Board) seeks extraordinary relief from the superior court’s orders to show cause issued in the habeas corpus proceedings pertaining to Viet Mike Ngo (In re Ngo, case No. 127611), Rolando Gaoiran (In re Gaoiran, case No. 105491), Daniel Bettencourt (In re Bettencourt, case No. 79903), and Donald Ray Lewis (In re Lewis, case No. 68038.) The Board contends that the superior court exceeded its jurisdiction when it issued orders to show cause that require the Board to respond to claims not expressly raised in the habeas corpus petitions. The Board also contends that the superior court exceeded its jurisdiction when, on its own motion, it incorporated a discovery order in the orders to show cause in the Ngo and Gaoiran cases. The discovery orders require the Board to produce the decision pages for all of the several thousand Board parole suitability hearings that were held in 2003.

For reasons that we will explain, we will issue peremptory writs of mandate vacating the orders to show cause and the discovery orders and directing the superior court to reconsider its rulings in accordance with the views…