Figueroa v. Keyser
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03216
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Figueroa v. Keyser, Judge McMahon denied William Figueroa’s duplicate COVID-19 release petition without prejudice to his pending related petition.
William Figueroa’s duplicate federal petition was denied without prejudice; his substantially similar pending application in case number 20-CV-3013 (JGK) was not decided by this order.
What happened
In Figueroa v. Keyser, William Figueroa, who was incarcerated and represented himself, asked the court for release because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He filed the request under a law allowing challenges to state custody.
The court found that Figueroa had already filed a substantially similar petition in another pending case before Judge John G. Koeltl. Because this petition raised the same claims, the court said there was no useful purpose in litigating the duplicate request.
Judge Colleen McMahon denied the petition without prejudice to Figueroa’s pending application in the earlier case. The court also declined to issue a certificate allowing an appeal and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
The detailed version
- Figueroa v. Keyser · No. 1:20-cv-03216
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 24, 2020
Background
William Figueroa, who was incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility and proceeded without a lawyer, filed an emergency petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. That law permits a state prisoner to challenge the legality of custody in federal court. Figueroa sought release because of the extraordinary circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Court’s reasoning
The court stated that Figueroa had previously filed a substantially similar petition seeking emergency release because of the pandemic. That earlier case was pending before Judge John G. Koeltl under case number 20-CV-3013 (JGK). Because the present petition raised the same claims, the court concluded that no useful purpose would be served by litigating this duplicate petition.
Ruling
Judge Colleen McMahon denied the petition without prejudice to Figueroa’s pending application in case number 20-CV-3013 (JGK). 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. In addition, the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The opinion does not decide the merits of Figueroa’s underlying request for release.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.