Steve Gerald Stevens v. Municipal Court for the San Jose-Milpitas Judicial District, County of Santa Clara, State of California

The District Court granted Steve Gerald Stevens’ petition for habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , but denied Stevens’ motion for allowance of counsel fees for services rendered by the attorney who prosecuted the petition. Stevens appeals from the denial of the motion. We affirm.

I

The facts which gave rise to the appeal may be summarized as follows. Stevens was convicted in the Municipal Court for the San Jose-Milpitas Judicial District (hereinafter “Municipal Court”) for violation of California Penal Code § 415.5 (maliciously and wilfully disturbing the peace of a state educational institution). He was sentenced to two years of probation with a conditional fifteen-day suspended sentence. Stevens appealed and in aid of his appeal filed motions for a free transcript and appointment of an appeals attorney, on the ground of his indigency. These motions were denied by the Municipal Court. The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of California affirmed the denials, ruling that the record failed to show Stevens was indigent. Stevens petitioned for federal habeas corpus on the ground the state courts denied him, as an indigent, his constitutional rights to the free transcript and…