Can a federal magistrate judge grant a stay pending exhaustion of a mixed petition?

When the magistrate judge in Case No. 2:11-cv-1549 GEB GGH sua sponte considered and rejected the possibility of a stay pending exhaustion, he failed to consider the fact - readily discernible from the record - that petitioner's custodial status had expired during the pendency of the case.² Therefore, the dismissal "literally and immediately extinguished [petitioner's] right to federal habeas review." Jefferson v. Budge, 419 F.3d 1013, 1017, n.4 (9th Cir. 2005) (discussing consequences of dismissing mixed petition without prejudice, but without providing petitioner the option to proceed on exhausted claims only, after statute of limitations

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had expired).