Chioino

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

PATRICK F. CHIOINO,  No. 08-15265 Petitioner-Appellee, v.  D.C. No.

CV-06-00932-MHP

SCOTT M. KERNAN, Warden,

OPINION

Respondent-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Marilyn H. Patel, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted July 16, 2009* San Francisco, California

Filed September 21, 2009

Before: Barry G. Silverman, Richard R. Clifton and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr.

*The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

13705 CHIOINO v. KERNAN 13707

COUNSEL

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General for the State of Cali- fornia, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerard A. Engler, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Peggy S. Ruffra, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Jeffrey M. Laurence, Deputy Attorney General, San Francisco, Cali- fornia, for the respondent-appellant.

Mary McNamara and August Gugelmann, Swanson, McNa- mara & Haller LLP, San…