Joseph Sandgathe v. Manfred F. Maass

314 F.3d 371 Joseph SANDGATHE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Manfred F. MAASS, Respondent-Appellee. No. 01-35053. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted March 8, 2002. Filed December 20, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Bryan E. Lessley, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Eugene, Oregon, for the petitioner-appellant. Kathleen Cegla, Assistant Attorney General, and Janet A. Klapstein, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of Oregon, Salem, Oregon, for the respondent-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon; Janice M. Stewart, Magistrate, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-98-06179-ST. Before: B. FLETCHER, O'SCANNLAIN and BERZON, Circuit Judges. OPINION BERZON, Circuit Judge. 1 Joseph Sandgathe appeals the denial and dismissal of his writ of habeas corpus filed in district court. The writ sought to challenge two 1993 convictions in the Lane County Circuit Court. 2 In one case ("the Bryson case"), Sandgathe was convicted in a jury trial of assault in the second degree. That case arose from a trip Sandgathe took in October 1992 to the dentist, reminiscent of the dentist scene in "The Little Shop of…

Joseph Sandgathe appeals the denial and dismissal of his writ of habeas corpus filed in district court. The writ sought to challenge two 1993 convictions in the Lane County Circuit Court.

In one case (“the Bryson case”), Sand-gathe was convicted in a jury trial of assault in the second degree. That case arose from a trip Sandgathe took in October 1992 to the dentist, reminiscent of the dentist scene in “The Little Shop of Horrors” — but in reverse.

Sandgathe visited his dentist, Dr. Bry-son, to have a tooth bridge removed and repaired. Prior to the bridge removal, petitioner was given a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, and a local anesthetic, Xylocaine.

During the procedure, Dr. Bryson decided it was necessary to give petitioner another Xylocaine injection to stop his gums from bleeding. Sandgathe was concerned about the additional injection, but Dr. Bry-son assured him that the procedure was standard. Sandgathe nonetheless became agitated, cursed, stood up, and repeatedly hit and kicked Dr. Bryson. Sandgathe then walked to the reception area and yelled at the receptionist. When Dr. Bry-son asked Sandgathe to leave, Sandgathe grabbed Dr. Bryson around the…

concurring in the judgment:

While I concur in the result reached by the court, I cannot join Part B of its opinion which concludes that the district court erred in holding that Sandgathe’s incompetence-to-plead claim was procedurally defaulted.

The court’s opinion cites the Supreme Court’s holding in Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797 , 111 S.Ct. 2590 , 115 L.Ed.2d 706 (1990), in support of its conclusion that “[bjeeause the post-conviction trial court explicitly ruled on the federal constitutional issues and there is no indication that the Court of Appeals did not, we presume that the subsequent mute affirmance by the Court of Appeals rested on the same grounds as the decision it was affirming.” Maj. Op. at 378. There are two problems with reliance on Ylst , one factual and the other legal.

First, as the opinion notes, “Sandgathe ... did not frame his claim of incompetence to enter a plea ... in terms of any federal right.” Maj. Op. at 376. I cannot pretend to understand why this fact does not end our inquiry and compel the conclusion that Sandgathe, by failing to make a federal constitutional claim in state court, is barred from raising it in federal court. Any other conclusion…