Blandon v. Attorney General, State of New York
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-02265
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Blandon v. Attorney General, Judge McMahon transferred Blandon’s habeas case to the Eastern District of New York because his conviction was in Kings County.
David Mairena Blandon’s federal challenge to his 2016 New York state-court conviction was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York; the merits were not decided.
What happened
Blandon v. Attorney General, State of New York involved a petition by David Mairena Blandon challenging his 2016 conviction in Kings County, New York. He filed the petition without a lawyer while held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility.
The court transferred the case to the Eastern District of New York because Kings County is located there. The order closed the Southern District of New York case and left any decision about proceeding without paying filing fees to the receiving court.
Judge Colleen McMahon also said no certificate allowing an appeal would issue because Blandon had not made a substantial showing that his constitutional rights were denied. She denied fee-free status for any appeal and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Blandon v. Attorney General, State of New York · No. 1:20-cv-02265
- Colleen McMahon
- Mar. 17, 2020
Background
David Mairena Blandon filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, a procedure for challenging a state-court conviction or custody in federal court. The petition challenged his 2016 conviction in the New York Supreme Court, Kings County. The opinion states that Blandon was being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York, and that he was proceeding without a lawyer.
Transfer
Because Kings County is in the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York transferred the action under Local Civil Rule 83.3 to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The clerk was directed to mail Blandon the order, record service on the docket, and transfer the action. The transferee court was to decide whether Blandon could proceed without prepaying filing fees. The order states that the Southern District case was closed.
Appeal-related rulings
The court stated that Blandon had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied, so it would not issue a certificate of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The opinion does not decide the merits of Blandon’s challenge to his conviction. Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.