McCargo v. Jamison
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02367
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McCargo v. Jamison, Judge Swain dismissed Kareem McCargo’s habeas petition without prejudice because he neither paid the filing fee nor sought a fee waiver.
Kareem McCargo’s habeas petition and any appeal from the dismissal.
What happened
In McCargo v. Jamison, Kareem McCargo filed a petition asking for a court order concerning his detention. The court required him to either pay the $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying it within 30 days.
McCargo did neither. The court therefore dismissed the petition without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not permanently bar refiling. The opinion did not decide the petition’s underlying claims.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that McCargo could not appeal without paying the appeal fee because the appeal would not be taken in good faith, and denied fee-waiver status for the appeal. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- McCargo v. Jamison · No. 1:24-cv-02367
- Laura Swain
- June 3, 2024
Background
Kareem McCargo filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. By an order dated March 28, 2024, the court directed him to do one of two things within 30 days: submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, or pay the $5 fee required to file the petition. The earlier order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
McCargo did not submit the application or pay the fee.
Ruling
The court dismissed the habeas petition without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The dismissal was based on McCargo’s failure to satisfy the filing-fee requirement, not on a decision about the substance of his habeas claims.
The court also ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue because the petition did not make a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. In addition, the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the fee for an appeal. The clerk was directed to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.