Clemente Barrera v. Raul Lopez

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner-Appellant Clemente Villegas Barrera (“Barrera”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. Barrera contends the district court: (1) erred in finding claims two and three of the § 2254 petition unexhausted; and (2) abused its discretion in failing to grant Barrera’s motion to stay his federal petition while he further exhausted his claims in state court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Barrera raised claims two and three in a pro se habeas application filed in the California Supreme Court. That court denied the petition with citation to In re Swain, 34 Cal.2d 300, 304 , 209 P.2d 793 (1949), and People v. Duvall, 9 Cal.4th 464, 474 , 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 259 , 886 P.2d 1252 (1995). These citations indicate the court determined Barrera’s petition was procedurally deficient for failure to comply with state rules requiring him to “allege with particularity the facts upon which he would have a final judgment overturned,” Swain, 34 Cal.2d at 304 , 209 P.2d 793 , and “include copies of reasonably available documentary evidence supporting the claim[s], including ... affidavits or declarations.” Duvall, 9…