9th Cir.;
15-55337

The court of appeals reversed a district court judgment. The court held that California's alleged systemic delay in administration of the death penalty did not impact the State's timely resolution of post-conviction claims so as to excuse the petitioner's failure to exhaust state remedies.

On July 16, 2014, the district court issued an opinion in Jones v. Chappell, 31 F. Supp. 3d 1050 (C.D. Cal. 2014) granting relief to a habeas petitioner on the ground that “systemic delay” in the administration of California's death penalty rendered any ensuing executions arbitrary, and thus in violation of the Eighth Amendment. California death row inmate Maria Alfaro sought leave to amend her pending federal habeas petition to add a claim based on the court's findings and holding in Jones. The State opposed, challenging both the untimeliness of the amendment and Alfaro's failure to exhaust the claim in state court.

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