John Christopher Brown v. Josie Gastelo

BACKGROUND

The Petition was filed in March 2020. Shortly thereafter, Respondent moved to dismiss on the basis that Petitioner’s fourth ground for relief was unexhausted—i.e., he had not presented it to the California Supreme Court. Petitioner acknowledged this in the Petition (see id. at 3), and the copy of the petition for review that he attached to the Petition bore this out (see Dkt. 1-3 at 1-75.) Accordingly, on July 9, 2020, the Court ordered Petitioner to either move for a stay of this action while he exhausted his fourth ground or voluntarily dismiss that ground so the Court could proceed to the merits of his exhausted claims. See Dkt. 16. Petitioner did neither, possibly because he sent the Court a notice of change of address after the Court had issued the order. See Dkt. 17. On September 14, 2020, the Court ordered Petitioner to show good cause why the Court should not dismiss the action without prejudice as mixed and for failure to prosecute. See Dkt. 20. The Court expressly warned Petitioner that his failure to submit a timely response to the order could result in the Petition being dismissed for these reasons. See id. at 2. Petitioner requested and received…