Williams v. State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02576
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Williams v. State of New York, Judge Swain dismissed Williams’s habeas petition without prejudice because he neither paid the filing fee nor requested fee-waiver status.
Derrick Lavell Williams’s federal habeas petition was dismissed without prejudice because he did not pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying it; the order also limited his ability to appeal without paying the appeal fee and denied a certificate of appealability.
What happened
Derrick Lavell Williams filed a petition asking for a federal review of his state custody. The court ordered him to either submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the required $5 fee.
Williams did neither within the required thirty days. The court therefore dismissed his petition without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not permanently bar refiling.
Judge Swain also denied Williams permission to appeal without paying the appeal fee, ruled that no certificate allowing an appeal would issue, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Williams v. State of New York · No. 1:25-cv-02576
- Laura Swain
- May 19, 2025
Background
Derrick Lavell Williams filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, seeking federal review of his state custody. On April 4, 2025, the court ordered Williams to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, commonly called an IFP application, or to pay the $5 filing fee required for the petition. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Court’s ruling
Williams did not submit an IFP application or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the petition without prejudice. The opinion does not decide the underlying habeas claim.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. It also ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue because Williams had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.