Elleby v. The United States
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:20-cv-02935
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
Elleby v. Smith: Judge Engelmayer denied reconsideration and upheld dismissal without prejudice because Elleby had not completed state remedies.
Taye L. Elleby, whose petition seeking release to home confinement was dismissed without prejudice for failure to complete available state remedies; Brandon J. Smith was the named respondent.
What happened
In Taye L. Elleby v. Brandon J. Smith, Taye L. Elleby, representing himself, asked for release to home confinement during the pandemic. The court had dismissed his petition without prejudice because he had not completed available state-court procedures.
Elleby asked the court to reconsider, saying he had filed four motions in New York state courts but had not received decisions. The court ruled that pending motions did not complete the required state process, and that wanting faster decisions did not excuse the requirement.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer denied Elleby’s motion for reconsideration and reaffirmed the earlier dismissal of his petition without prejudice. The court also directed the clerk to mail Elleby copies of the specified orders.
The detailed version
- Elleby v. The United States · No. 1:20-cv-02935
- Paul Engelmayer
- July 20, 2020
Background
On April 9, 2020, Taye L. Elleby filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 seeking release from custody to home confinement because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opinion states that Elleby was proceeding without a lawyer. On May 22, 2020, the court dismissed the petition without prejudice because Elleby had not exhausted, or completed, his available state remedies.
Motion for Reconsideration
The court received Elleby’s letter on July 18, 2020, and treated it as a motion asking the court to reconsider its May 22 ruling. Elleby stated that he had filed four motions with the New York County Supreme Court and the First Department of the Appellate Division, but that no decision had been issued on any of them.
The court held that filing motions that remained pending was not enough to exhaust Elleby’s claims. It found that state-court remedies were still available. The court also noted that New York State Supreme Court justices had heard and granted petitions concerning the effects of COVID-19 on confinement conditions. Elleby’s desire for faster decisions in state court did not provide a reason to excuse the exhaustion requirement.
Ruling
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer denied Elleby’s motion for reconsideration and reaffirmed the May 22, 2020 opinion dismissing Elleby’s petition without prejudice. The court directed the clerk to mail Elleby copies of the June 8, 2020 order and the July 20, 2020 order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.