Williams v. United States
- Richard Sullivan
- 1:20-cv-01554
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Williams v. United States, Judge Sullivan denied a stay, denied counsel without prejudice, denied minutes as moot, and denied appeal IFP status.
John Todd Williams’s requests for a stay, appointment of pro bono counsel, February 20, 2020 minutes, and permission to appeal without prepaying fees were denied in the stated forms.
What happened
In Williams v. United States, John Todd Williams asked the court to pause the case during an appeal, appoint free volunteer counsel, and provide minutes from a February 20, 2020 proceeding.
The court denied the request to pause the case because Williams was trying to appeal a nonfinal order that had not been approved for an immediate appeal. It denied the request for counsel without prejudice because no new facts changed the court’s earlier decision. It denied the request for minutes as moot because no proceeding before Magistrate Judge Lehrburger occurred on that date.
Judge Sullivan also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Williams permission to proceed without paying appeal fees. The clerk was directed to close the three motions and mail Williams a copy of the order.
The detailed version
- Williams v. United States · No. 1:20-cv-01554
- Richard Sullivan
- Sept. 18, 2020
Background
John Todd Williams, identified as the movant, filed three motions in case No. 20-cv-1554: a request for a stay pending appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 8, a request for appointment of pro bono counsel, and a request for “a copy of the minutes from February 20, 2020.” The order was filed on both the civil and criminal dockets, although the motions were filed only in the civil case.
Rulings on the Motions
The court denied the motion for a stay. It relied on its August 5, 2020 order, which explained that Williams’s notice of appeal was defective because it sought review of a nonfinal order that had not been certified for interlocutory appeal. An interlocutory appeal is an appeal taken before the case is fully resolved, when the court has authorized such an appeal.
The court denied without prejudice the request for appointment of pro bono counsel. “Without prejudice” means the ruling did not itself bar a later request. The court gave the same reasons stated in its April 6, 2020 order denying Williams’s earlier request and found that no new facts had developed.
The court construed the request for February 20 minutes as a request for a transcript of a proceeding in this case and denied it as moot. The court found that no proceeding before Magistrate Judge Lehrburger had occurred on February 20, 2020. The docket entry for that date only showed that Magistrate Judge Lehrburger had been assigned to the case, so the case could proceed before a magistrate judge if all parties consented.
Other Orders and Disposition
The clerk was directed to terminate the motions at document numbers 21, 22, and 23 in No. 20-cv-1554, mail Williams a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Williams permission to appeal without prepaying the required fees. Judge Richard J. Sullivan, a United States Circuit Judge sitting by designation, signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.