Carter v. Warden Rickard FCI Otisville
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07097
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Richard Carter v. Warden Rickard FCI Otisville, Judge Swain dismissed the petition without prejudice after Carter neither paid the fee nor filed a request to proceed without paying.
Richard Carter's habeas petition was dismissed without prejudice because he did not pay the required filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying. The order also affected any appeal by withholding a certificate of appealability and denying permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Richard Carter v. Warden Rickard FCI Otisville, the court had ordered Carter to submit a completed request to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the required $5 fee.
Carter did neither within the required 30 days. The opinion does not address the underlying claims in his habeas petition.
Judge Swain dismissed the petition without prejudice, meaning it was not permanently barred from being filed again. She also declined to issue a certificate allowing an appeal and denied permission to appeal without paying court fees.
The detailed version
- Carter v. Warden Rickard FCI Otisville · No. 1:25-cv-07097
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 10, 2025
Background
Richard Carter filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Warden Rickard FCI Otisville. On September 5, 2025, the court ordered Carter, within 30 days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, commonly called an in forma pauperis application, or to pay the $5 fee required to file the petition.
What the Court Decided
Carter did not submit the application or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the petition without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The opinion does not decide the substance of Carter’s habeas claims.
Appeal-Related Rulings
The court said the action did not make a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied, so it would not issue a certificate of appealability. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the appellate filing fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.