Michele J. Marchese v. State of California (Appeal Filed Sub Nom. Paul T. Walker, Warden, Federal Correctional Institute)

Márchese was convicted in a California court of three handgun offenses. A condition of his parole from a former federal conviction proscribed possessing firearms. The federal parole was revoked. Márchese unsuccessfully appealed his state conviction. He then petitioned for relief in federal district court, challenging his custody on grounds similar to those he had advanced in the California Court of Appeal. While this case was pending, he was released from federal custody. We therefore dismiss his appeal from the denial of the writ directed to the federal prison warden as moot.

Márchese contends that his California conviction is void because it is based upon illegally seized evidence. This point was fully litigated in the California courts and cannot be relitigated in a federal petition. Stone v. Powell, - U.S. --, 96 S.Ct. 3037 , 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976).

Márchese also raises other points:

Schwartz testified from handwritten notes which he distilled from Marchese’s case file. The prosecution had seen the whole file. The defense moved, and the trial court ordered, that Schwartz should produce the entire file, in camera, so that the defense should have an opportunity to discover…