Cass

ORDER (1) ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE AND (2) DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABE-AS CORPUS

Petitioner Manuel Cass, Jr., a prisoner in state custody proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Petitioner is serving a sentence of 17-years-to-life for second degree murder. He asserts the California Board of Prison Terms (“parole board” or “board”) deprived him of due process of law when it denied his fourth request for parole by relying solely on pre-incarceration conduct, namely the circumstances of his underlying offense — second degree murder — despite evidence of exemplary behavior and rehabilitation during his fifteen years of imprisonment. In support of this claim, Petitioner relies upon a Ninth Circuit decision, Biggs v. Terhune, 334 F.3d 910 (9th Cir.2003), for the proposition that continued reliance on “unchanging factors” — such as the commitment offense — as the sole basis to repeatedly deny parole violates due process. Petitioner also claims the board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious.

The Magistrate Judge issued a Report and Recommendation (“R & R”), first noting under settled law that…