Walden v. Wolcott
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08841
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Walden v. Wolcott, Judge McMahon reclassified a habeas petition as a reconsideration motion and administratively closed this action.
John Walden's newly opened petition was reclassified as a reconsideration motion in his earlier case, and this action was administratively closed; the underlying conviction challenge remained unresolved.
What happened
John Walden filed this action challenging how his separate petition challenging a 2017 New York County conviction was handled. He called the new filing a petition challenging unlawful detention, but the Western District transferred it to the Southern District of New York.
The court concluded that the filing was not a new case. It directed the Clerk to treat it as a motion asking Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn to reconsider an August 21, 2020 order in Walden's earlier case, and to administratively close this action.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered those docket changes, directed that the order be mailed to Walden, and denied fee-free status for any appeal after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The court did not decide the underlying conviction challenge or the reconsideration motion.
The detailed version
- Walden v. Wolcott · No. 1:20-cv-08841
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 9, 2020
Background
John Walden, who was incarcerated at Orleans Correctional Facility, had a separate pending petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his December 1, 2017 New York County judgment of conviction. That earlier case was pending before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. On August 21, 2020, Magistrate Judge Netburn denied Walden's motion to strike the respondent's notice of appearance, his requests for a court conference, and his requests to amend the docket.
Walden then filed this action, describing it as a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The Western District of New York transferred it to the Southern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), concluding that the filing challenged Walden's conviction and a decision in his earlier § 2254 proceeding. The Western District also denied Walden's motion to reconsider the transfer.
Court's action
After reviewing the filing, the court concluded that it should not have been opened as a new action. The court construed it as a motion for reconsideration of Magistrate Judge Netburn's August 21, 2020 order in Walden's earlier § 2254 case.
The court directed the Clerk to docket the filing as that reconsideration motion, docket a copy of the order in the earlier case, and administratively close this action, No. 20-CV-8841. Administrative closure handled the docketing of this filing; the opinion did not rule on the merits of Walden's conviction challenge or decide the reconsideration motion itself.
Judge Colleen McMahon also directed the Clerk to mail the order to Walden and note service on the docket. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.