Ainsworth v. Vasquez

OPINION

LEVI, District Judge:

In these two death penalty habeas corpus cases, petitioners seek reconsideration of orders by the magistrate judges setting hearings that have come to be known as “Neuschafer hearings”. 1 At such a hearing the magistrate judge proposes to question the petitioner concerning the existence of any unexhausted habeas corpus claims. The stated primary purpose of the hearing is to attempt to consolidate all claims in one proceeding and to avoid the piecemeal treatment of claims in multiple petitions. Because this procedure will be at issue in many death penalty habeas…