Unopposed motion for extension of time to file a reply to answer

(First request)

ORDER

ANDREW P. GORDON, District Judge.

Petitioner Leonard Hill moves this Court for the entry of an order extending the time within which he must file a reply to answer by 47 days from January 2, 2020 to and including February 18, 2020. The state, by Deputy Attorney General Erin L. Bittick, does not object to this request.

Hill, through counsel, filed an amended petition on April 27, 2018.1 The state filed a motion to dismiss,2 which Hill opposed.3 This Court issued an order on the state's motion to dismiss on July 25, 2019.4 The state filed an answer to Hill's remaining claims on December 2, 2019.5 Hill now moves this Court for an extension of time to file a reply to the state's answer. This is Hill's first request for an extension of time. This motion is not filed for the purposes of delay but in the interests of justice as well as in the interests of Hill.

Because of counsel's schedule, she has not been able to meet the deadline of January 2, 2020, for filing the reply to the state's answer. Counsel's schedule has included the following: an oral argument to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Vontobel v. Benedetti, case no. 18-15892 on December 2, 2019; a petition for writ of certiorari, Vincent v. Williams, case no. 17-16992, on December 9, 2019. On December 13, 2019, an evidentiary hearing was ordered in the case of McClain v. LeGrand, case no: 3:14-cv-00269-MMD-CBC; the date of the hearing was set for February 19, 2019. Counsel immediately began preparing for this hearing. Counsel has also been drafting a genetic marker petition in the case of Rivera v. Williams, case no. 2:19-cv-00288-APG-BNW, which will be filed January 3, 2020, in the Eighth Judicial District Court. Counsel also has met with two new clients in the past week.

Counsel was also out of the office from December 24-January 1, 2020.

For these reasons, counsel respectfully asks this Court to grant Hill's request to extend the time for filing reply to answer by 47 days until February 18, 2020.

IT IS SO ORDERED.