Williams v. State of New York
Derrick Lavell Williams v. State of New York; Leticia James; State of Alabama; State of Wyoming; U.S. Attorney of Wyoming; U.S. Attorney General
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02576
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
Judge Swain transferred Williams v. State of New York to the Eleventh Circuit because it was a successive petition requiring appellate permission.
Derrick Lavell Williams’s federal challenge to his Alabama conviction was not considered by the Southern District of New York on its merits. The petition was sent to the Eleventh Circuit for authorization because the court treated it as a second or successive petition; the respondents were not required to litigate the merits in this order.
What happened
In Derrick Lavell Williams v. State of New York, Williams, who is incarcerated and represented himself, challenged his 2011 Alabama conviction. He argued that the prosecution violated protections against being tried twice for the same offense and interfered with his right to represent himself.
The court found that Williams had already filed an earlier petition challenging the same conviction in a prior related proceeding in the Northern District of Alabama. Because that petition had been decided on the merits, the new petition was a second or successive petition. Federal law requires permission from the appropriate appeals court before such a petition can be filed in a district court.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the petition to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and closed the case. The court also directed the clerk to terminate four motions, declined to issue a certificate of appealability, and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee.
The detailed version
- Williams v. State of New York · No. 1:25-cv-02576
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 8, 2025
Background
Derrick Lavell Williams filed an amended petition without a lawyer under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, the federal law allowing a person in state custody to challenge a state-court conviction. He challenged his March 22, 2011 conviction in Alabama. The opinion states that Williams was incarcerated at the Sierra Conservation Center in Jamestown, California.
According to the amended petition, Williams claimed that Alabama officials prosecuted him for conduct involved in charges dismissed on February 6, 2006, violating the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. He also claimed that he was exercising his Sixth Amendment right to represent himself during earlier Alabama proceedings. The opinion states that Williams did not provide facts describing what happened between February 6, 2006, and March 2011.
The court reviewed publicly available records showing that Williams had previously filed a petition challenging the same conviction in a prior related proceeding in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, No. 09-CV-0352. The earlier proceeding involved a March 22, 2011 guilty plea to the lesser included offense of first-degree sex abuse and a 10-year split sentence, according to the procedural history quoted in this opinion. The Northern District of Alabama dismissed some claims for lack of jurisdiction and denied claims challenging the validity of the conviction as time-barred and procedurally defaulted.
Reason for Transfer
The court concluded that the earlier application had been decided on the merits. It therefore treated Williams’s current application as a second or successive petition. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A), a person must obtain authorization from the appropriate court of appeals before filing a second or successive § 2254 petition in a district court.
Because the challenged conviction was an Alabama conviction, the court stated that Williams must seek permission from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The court transferred the petition there in the interest of justice under 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The opinion states that, if the Eleventh Circuit authorizes Williams to proceed, he may move in the Northern District of Alabama.
Disposition
The court transferred the petition to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and closed the case. It directed the clerk to terminate the motions at ECF 11, 15, 16, and 18. The court 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. Finally, the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee. The order was signed by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.