Mahlberg v. Minnesota, State of

Background

Arne Henry Mahlberg filed a petition seeking habeas relief from his 2014 state-court convictions for four counts of criminal sexual conduct. A habeas petition is a request for a federal court to review a person’s custody or imprisonment. Mahlberg had previously sought habeas relief from the same convictions and sentence in a prior related proceeding. That petition was denied as untimely. He filed the present petition less than four months later.

Reason for the Recommendation

The court reviewed the petition under Rule 4 of the rules governing state-prisoner habeas cases. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A), a person in custody under a state-court judgment who wants to file a second or successive habeas petition must first ask the appropriate federal appeals court for permission to file it in the district court.

The report states that Mahlberg had not received authorization from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Because that authorization was absent, the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction—that is, legal authority—to consider the successive petition. The report notes that Mahlberg apparently filed a habeas petition in the Eighth Circuit instead of first filing the required request for authorization.

Recommended Disposition

Judge Leo I. Brisbois recommended that Mahlberg’s habeas petition be dismissed without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. The recommendation also states that the case should be dismissed and that no certificate of appealability should be issued. A certificate of appealability is a document required for an appeal in many federal habeas cases.

The opinion is a magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation, not a final order or judgment. It states that the report is not directly appealable to the Eighth Circuit and that the parties may file specific written objections within 14 days after being served. The text does not state whether the district judge later adopted the recommendation.