Joseph Hunt v. Cheryl Pliler, Warden Csp-Sac Cal Terhune, Director of the CDC California Department of Corrections California State Attorney General

This is an appeal from the dismissal with prejudice of Joseph Hunt’s habeas corpus petition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253. The case is now before us on remand from the Supreme Court, which vacated our prior decision and remanded for further consideration “in light of Pliler v. Ford, 542 U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2441 , 159 L.Ed.2d 338 (2004).” Pliler v. Hunt, 542 U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2903 , 159 L.Ed.2d - (2004). In Ford , the Court held that a district court is not required to warn a pro se litigant that it could not consider a motion to stay a mixed petition unless he amends the petition and dismisses unexhausted claims and that his claims would be time barred under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d), upon his return to federal court if he dismissed his petition to return to state court to exhaust his claims. Ford , — U.S. at -, 124 S.Ct. at 2445. In our prior decision we vacated the district court’s order dismissing Hunt’s petition on three grounds: (1) the court’s failure to comply with the procedure governing designation of magistrate judges, (2) the court’s abuse of its discretion in dismissing the petition…