Paul Jennings v. ALAN AZIZIAN, Chief Psychologist at Coalinga State Hospital

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
PAUL JENNINGS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
ALAN AZIZIAN, Chief Psychologist at
Coalinga State Hospital; AUDREY KING,
Executive Director at Coalinga State
Hospital,
Defendants-Appellees.
No. 16-15182
D.C. No. 1:15-cv-00840-SAB
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of California
Stanley Albert Boone, Magistrate Judge, Presiding**
Submitted December 14, 2016***
Before: WALLACE, LEAVY, and FISHER, Circuit Judges.
Paul Jennings appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing
FILED
DEC 23 2016
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
** Jennings consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. See 28
U.S.C. § 636(c).
*** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

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his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action arising from his confinement under California’s
Sexually Violent Predators Act (“SVPA”). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1291. We review de novo a dismissal under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii).
Huftile v. Miccio-Fonseca, 410 F.3d 1136, 1138 (9th Cir. 2005). We affirm.
The district properly dismissed Jennings’s action because Jennings failed to
allege facts sufficient to show that the SVPA’s post-commitment procedures in
effect in 2013 deprived him of due process notwithstanding any denial of annual
mental health evaluations. See Portman v. County of Santa Clara, 995 F.2d 898,
904 (9th Cir. 1993) (setting forth elements of a § 1983 procedural due process
claim); see also Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 6608(a) (2013) (“A person who has been
committed as a sexually violent predator shall be permitted to petition the court for
conditional release with or without the recommendation or concurrence of the
Director of State Hospitals.”); id. § 6608(k) (2013) (“After a minimum of one year
on conditional release, the committed person, with or without the recommendation
or concurrence of the Director of State Hospitals, may petition the court for
unconditional discharge.”).
We reject as unsupported by the record Jennings’s contention regarding the
magistrate judge.
Jennings’s motion for appointment of counsel, filed on March 25, 2016, is
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denied.
AFFIRMED.
16-15182 3

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