Clark v. Miller
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-04757
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Clark v. Miller, Judge McMahon dismissed the petition after Clark failed to file the required amended petition.
Carl Lee Clark Jr., whose petition was dismissed; the order names Christopher Miller, Department of Corrections Superintendent, as the respondent.
What happened
In Clark v. Miller, the court had ordered Carl Lee Clark Jr. to file an amended petition within 60 days and warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal.
Clark did not file the required amended petition. Although he submitted eight affidavits and a letter, the court said those documents did not comply with its order to amend.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the petition, declined to issue a certificate of appealability, and denied fee-free status for any appeal because the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Clark v. Miller · No. 1:19-cv-04757
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 10, 2019
Background
The court had previously ordered Carl Lee Clark Jr. to file an amended petition within 60 days. That order warned that the petition would be dismissed if he did not comply. The opinion does not describe the petition’s underlying legal claims.
Compliance with the Court’s Order
Clark did not file an amended petition. The court noted that, between October 7 and November 22, 2019, he filed eight documents titled “Affidavits of Fact” and one letter. The court determined that these documents did not comply with the September 24, 2019 order to amend.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the petition. The petition had been filed without requiring payment of the filing fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). The court also ruled that no certificate of appealability would issue because the petition did not make a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. Finally, the court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Effect of the Order
The petition was dismissed based on Clark’s failure to file the required amended petition. The opinion does not state whether the dismissal was with or without prejudice.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.