McCullom v. Ahern
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:21-cv-02515
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In McCullom v. Ahern, Judge Gilliam extended time for the petitioner to pay the filing fee or apply to proceed without paying it.
The order directly affects Kevin Lee McCullom by extending his deadline to pay the filing fee or file an application to proceed without paying it. It also substitutes Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern as the respondent and asks Santa Rita Jail officials to assist with the application materials.
What happened
In McCullom v. Ahern, the petitioner filed a petition challenging his state custody but had not paid the $5 filing fee or submitted an application to proceed without paying it. The court had originally set a May 5, 2021 deadline and warned that the case would be dismissed if he did not meet it.
The petitioner told the court that officials at Santa Rita Jail had removed a required account statement from his mail. The court extended the deadline to June 21, 2021, and said he still had to submit the application even if the statement was missing.
Judge Gilliam also ordered that Gregory J. Ahern, identified as the petitioner’s current custodian, replace the previously named respondent. The court asked Santa Rita Jail officials to help prepare the supporting materials and directed the Clerk to provide two application forms.
The detailed version
- McCullom v. Ahern · No. 4:21-cv-02515
- Haywood Gilliam
- May 14, 2021
Background
Kevin Lee McCullom, identified in the order as a state prisoner, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his custody. The court previously notified him that the case was deficient because he had not paid the $5 filing fee or filed an application to proceed without paying the fee. The court set May 5, 2021, as the deadline and warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal without further notice.
McCullom then sent the court a letter alleging that officials at Santa Rita Jail had removed his certificate of funds in his trust-account statement from mailings sent to the court. The order states that he had not yet filed an application to proceed without paying the filing fee.
Rulings and Orders
The court granted McCullom an extension of time. It ordered him, by June 21, 2021, either to pay the $5 filing fee or to file an application to proceed without paying it. The court stated that he remained responsible for filing the application even if prison officials did not provide the account statement or mail it to the court.
The court also ordered the Clerk to substitute Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern for the previously named respondent because the order identifies Sheriff Ahern as McCullom’s current custodian. The court requested that Santa Rita Jail officials assist McCullom in preparing the supporting materials, directed the Clerk to include two copies of the application with the order, and directed that a courtesy copy be sent to the jail’s litigation coordinator. This order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the substance of the petition. Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.