Sanchez v. Portuondo
- Jed Rakoff
- 1:99-cv-01911
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Sanchez v. Portuondo, Judge Rakoff transferred Sanchez’s second prison-release petition to the Second Circuit because this court lacked jurisdiction.
Felix Sanchez’s petition was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Second Circuit; the order did not decide his request for release.
What happened
In Sanchez v. Portuondo, Felix Sanchez asked the court for release from prison because COVID-19 created extraordinary circumstances and risks to his health.
Sanchez had previously filed a petition challenging his imprisonment, but the court denied it as too late. The court also denied his later request for relief from that judgment. Sanchez then filed this new petition under a federal law allowing challenges to state imprisonment.
The court ruled that this was a second or successive petition that required certification by a panel of the Second Circuit. Because the district court therefore lacked jurisdiction, Judge Jed S. Rakoff ordered the petition transferred to the Second Circuit for consideration.
The detailed version
- Sanchez v. Portuondo · No. 1:99-cv-01911
- Jed Rakoff
- Apr. 27, 2020
Background
In 1992, Felix Sanchez was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and gun possession. He received an aggregate sentence of 50 years to life in prison, and his convictions were affirmed on appeal.
Sanchez filed an initial petition seeking federal relief from his imprisonment on December 3, 1998. The court denied that petition as untimely on January 12, 2000. On January 4, 2020, the court denied Sanchez’s motion seeking relief from that judgment.
Sanchez then filed another petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a), seeking release based on the extraordinary circumstances and health risks he said were posed by COVID-19.
Jurisdiction and ruling
The court applied the rules governing a second or successive habeas petition. It stated that such a petition must be certified by a panel of the Second Circuit under the statutes cited in the order. The court concluded that Sanchez’s filing was a second motion and that the district court therefore lacked jurisdiction over it.
The court ordered Sanchez’s petition transferred to the Second Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 1631 for that court’s consideration. The order did not decide whether Sanchez was entitled to release because of COVID-19.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.