HESS v. BOARD OF PAROLE
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in HESS v. BOARD OF PAROLE, No. 06-35963, a habeas corpus appeal. The panel consisted of Raymond C. Fisher and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges, and Judith M. Barzilay, Judge..
FISHER, Circuit Judge:
Willie Fern Hess appeals from the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. He asserts that Oregon Revised Statute § 144.125(3) (1991), which allows the Parole Board to postpone his parole release date if it finds he has “a psychiatric or psychological diagnosis of a present severe emotional disturbance such as to constitute a danger to the health or safety of the community,” is unconstitutionally vague. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we affirm. BACKGROUND Hess is an inmate at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon, who has been incarcerated since 1984 as a result of multiple convictions on rape, sodomy and child sexual abuse charges. Hess first became eligible for parole in May 1994. Under Oregon law, the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision (”Board”) must release a prisoner on his parole release date unless it finds that his parole. . .