Torres v. Kernan

Background

Mario Torres, a former state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his state conviction from Contra Costa County Superior Court. He also moved for permission to proceed without paying filing fees and filed a separate “request for order.”

According to the petition, Torres entered a plea agreement and was sentenced on or about February 5, 2015, for an unknown term. He stated that he was no longer confined and had completed parole in September 2022. He filed the federal petition on December 27, 2022.

Court’s Analysis

Federal habeas jurisdiction is limited to people who were “in custody” under the conviction or sentence they challenge when they filed the petition. The court treated this custody requirement as jurisdictional, meaning that without it the court lacked authority to decide the petition.

Because Torres had completed parole several months before filing, the court concluded that he was not in custody when he filed the action. The court therefore did not reach the substance of his challenge to the state conviction.

Ruling

Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction. The court also ruled that no certificate of appealability was warranted because a reasonable jurist would not find the dismissal debatable or wrong. It granted Torres’s motion for permission to proceed without paying filing fees and denied his “request for order” as moot.

Classification

This is a procedural order because the court dismissed the habeas petition for lack of jurisdiction without reaching the underlying challenge to the conviction.