Carmona v. United States
- Katherine Failla
- 1:19-cv-06564
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Carmona v. United States, Judge Failla dismissed Carmona’s petition for lack of jurisdiction and denied as moot his motion to add New York.
The ruling affected Roberto Carmona’s petition challenging his state-court conviction and his motion to add the State of New York as a respondent; the case was closed.
What happened
In Carmona v. United States, Roberto Carmona challenged his state-court conviction after pleading guilty. He sought relief through several legal procedures and had already been deported when he filed the petition.
Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron recommended dismissing the petition because Carmona was not in custody and had not been in custody when he filed it. He also recommended denying as moot Carmona’s request to add New York as a respondent. Neither side objected to the recommendation.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla found no clear error, adopted the recommendation in full, dismissed the petition, and denied as moot the motion to add New York. She directed the Clerk of Court to close the case.
The detailed version
- Carmona v. United States · No. 1:19-cv-06564
- Katherine Failla
- Jan. 28, 2020
Background
Roberto Carmona, also known as Roberto Contreras, filed a petition seeking to challenge his state-court conviction after entering a guilty plea. The petition sought a writ of coram nobis, a writ of audita querela, or habeas relief. The opinion states that Carmona had been deported before filing the petition and was represented by counsel.
The matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron. He ordered Carmona to explain why the case should not be dismissed on the court’s own initiative for lack of jurisdiction because Carmona was no longer in custody and had not been in custody when he filed the petition. Carmona also moved to add the State of New York as a respondent. The United States argued that it was not the proper respondent because Carmona was challenging a state conviction.
Report and Recommendation
Judge Aaron recommended dismissing the petition. He concluded that Carmona had not provided legal authority showing that the court had jurisdiction even though Carmona was not in custody and filed the petition after his deportation. Judge Aaron also recommended denying as moot the motion to add New York because the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
Neither party objected to the Report and Recommendation within the required period. The district court explained that, as a result, Carmona waived the right to object and to obtain appellate review. The court nevertheless reviewed the report for clear error.
Ruling
Judge Katherine Polk Failla found no clear error in Judge Aaron’s reasoning and adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. The court ordered that the petition be dismissed on its own initiative and that Carmona’s motion to add the State of New York as a respondent be denied as moot. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the pending motions, adjourn remaining dates, and close the case.
Classification
This is a procedural order because the court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction without reaching the underlying challenge to Carmona’s conviction. The petition’s habeas component was therefore resolved on a threshold issue rather than on the merits.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.