DeJohn Lamont Miller v. Charles Pfeifer

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

DEJOHN LAMONT MILLER, CASE NO. 2:20-cv-01628-PSG (SK)

Petitioner,

ORDER DISMISSING ACTION

v.

FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION

CHARLES PFEIFER et al.,

Respondents.

Petitioner is a California state prisoner who, without submitting an underlying habeas petition, has filed a “motion” that (among other things) seeks a “stay” for “leave to file a second or successive petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.” (ECF 1). To quote from that caption’s pleading is to expose its many problems. If Petitioner has already filed a federal habeas petition before and wants to file a second or successive petition, this Court has no jurisdiction to decide that request, which may be granted only by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A); McNabb v. Yates, 576 F.3d 1028, 1029 (9th Cir. 2009). But if Petitioner has not filed a federal petition in any federal court, the general prohibition against state prisoners filing successive petitions does not yet apply. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b); Gonzalez v. Sherman, 873 F.3d 763, 765 (9th Cir. 2017). On the other hand, if Petitioner wants to file (and then obtain a stay of)…