James Smith v. Ron Broomfield

Background

On June 1, 2021, the Court received and filed Petitioner James Smith’s (“Petitioner”) pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (“Petition”). (Pet., ECF No. 1.) The Petition alleges one ground for federal habeas relief, claiming as follows: “Petitioner is being denied his liberty interest right from being subjected [to] a term of imprisonment that is disproportionate to his individual culpability amounting to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment[s] secured to him under the United States Constitution.” (Id. at 5.)1

Petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder in 1989 and sentenced to a term of twenty- five years to life in prison. (Pet. 2.)2 In July 2017, after a holding a youth offender parole hearing, the State of California Board of Parole Hearings (“Parole Board”) denied Petitioner release on parole for a period of five years. (See id. at 32–145 (July 27, 2017 Parole Hr’g Tr.).) Petitioner then unsuccessfully challenged this parole denial in state habeas proceedings. On February 26, 2018, the

1 Pinpoint citations in this Order refer to the page numbers appearing in the…