McClellon v. Peters
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-01767
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In McClellon v. Peters, Judge Swain ordered the petitioner to pay $5 or apply to proceed without fees within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
Donte McClellon must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
What happened
In McClellon v. Peters, Donte McClellon filed a petition for a court order concerning his detention but did not pay the $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying fees. The opinion states that he was representing himself.
The court gave McClellon 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue at this time, and the case will be processed if he complies. The court stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the deadline.
The order did not decide the petition’s underlying claims. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- McClellon v. Peters · No. 1:25-cv-01767
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 5, 2025
Background
Donte McClellon filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, meaning a request for judicial review of the legality of his detention. He was proceeding without a lawyer. The petition was submitted without the required $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered McClellon, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. The application had to be signed and labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-1767 (LTS). If the court grants the application, McClellon may proceed without paying the fees in advance.
No summons will issue at this time. If McClellon complies with the order, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal-Fee Certification
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not address the merits of McClellon’s habeas petition.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.