Frank George Prantil v. State of California

Frank George Prantil, a California state prisoner, appeals the district court’s summary dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 .

I.

Prantil, formerly an attorney in California, was introduced to Daryl Bell by his client Melvin Goins. Prantil agreed to represent Bell on a criminal charge. A few weeks later a woman purporting to be Bell’s mother asked Prantil to help her negotiate an escrow check from which Prantil would receive his fee. Prantil accompanied the woman to his bank where he informed the teller that the woman was his client’s mother and that he wanted to deposit the check into his trust account. The woman signed the check, which was made payable to Joanna F. McKnight, and Pran-til endorsed it to his trust account. Neither Prantil nor the woman indicated that the check might not be genuine.

Subsequently, the owner of an escrow agency discovered that three checks were missing from her office. One of the checks had been made out to Joanna F. McKnight and deposited in Prantil’s account. The agent’s signature had been forged on the check.

Prantil was charged with forgery in violation of Section 470 of the California Penal Code.…