Dennis

ORDER GRANTING PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION REGARDING ADEQUACY OF STATE PROCEDURAL BARS

On March 31, 2004, this Court granted Respondent’s motion to dismiss as procedurally defaulted several claims contained in Petitioner’s second amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. At the same time, the Court granted Petitioner leave to file a motion for reconsideration to determine whether certain procedural bars applied by the California Supreme Court should be found adequate to support the state superior court’s judgment against Petitioner under the burden-shifting test for analyzing adequacy announced in Bennett v. Mueller, 322 F.3d 573, 585-86 (9th Cir.2003). Because this Court finds that Respondent has not met her burden under that test of establishing the adequacy of the procedural bars, it necessarily concludes that Respondent has not shown that the affirmative defense of procedural default may be applied to the claims at issue. Accordingly, Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration will be granted.

I. BACKGROUND

The factual and procedural history of this case is set forth in Dennis v. Woodford, 65 F.Supp.2d 1093 (N.D.Cal.1999), and People v. Dennis, 17 Cal.4th 468 ,…