Sanchez v. Keyser
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:20-cv-03070
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Sanchez v. Keyser, Judge Abrams denied Felix Sanchez’s amended release petition as moot because the case had closed and his earlier petition was pending in the Second Circuit.
Felix Sanchez, whose amended petition seeking release was denied as moot; the opinion also identifies Keyser as the respondent.
What happened
In Sanchez v. Keyser, Felix Sanchez asked for release from prison because he said the extraordinary circumstances and health risks posed by COVID-19 justified relief. The opinion states that he was serving a sentence imposed after New York convictions for murder, attempted murder, and gun possession.
Sanchez had previously filed a petition seeking release, which was docketed both in this case and in an earlier related proceeding. Judge Rakoff transferred that petition to the Second Circuit because a second or successive petition required authorization from a panel of that court. This Court then closed the action on April 28, 2020.
Because the action had already been closed and the earlier petition was pending before the Second Circuit, Judge Ronnie Abrams denied Sanchez’s amended petition as moot. The Clerk was directed to mail the order and the April 28 order to Sanchez.
The detailed version
- Sanchez v. Keyser · No. 1:20-cv-03070
- Ronnie Abrams
- May 12, 2020
Background
In 1992, Felix Sanchez was convicted in New York Supreme Court 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 in 1995.
Sanchez filed an earlier petition asking for federal relief from his convictions. Judge Rakoff denied that petition as untimely on January 12, 2000. On January 4, 2020, Judge Rakoff denied Sanchez’s motion seeking relief from that judgment.
April 2020 Petition
Sanchez later filed a petition dated April 4, 2020, asking for release under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) based on the extraordinary circumstances and health risks posed by COVID-19. The petition was docketed in this action and also in the earlier related proceeding before Judge Rakoff.
Judge Rakoff transferred the petition to the Second Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The transfer was based on the requirement that a second or successive petition receive certification from a Second Circuit panel under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2244(b)(3)(A) and 2255(h). Because the petition had been docketed in both matters and Judge Rakoff had already addressed it, this Court declined to address it and closed this action on April 28, 2020.
Amended Petition and Ruling
An amended petition was docketed in this action on May 11, 2020. It was dated April 25, 2020, and the court stated that it therefore appeared to have been written but not docketed before the April 28 order closing the action.
Judge Ronnie Abrams denied the amended petition as moot. The court gave two reasons: this action had already been closed, and Sanchez’s April 4 petition was pending before the Second Circuit as a result of Judge Rakoff’s April 27 order. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order and the April 28 order to Sanchez.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.