Grant v. Gonyea
- John Cronan
- 1:18-cv-07720
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Grant v. Gonyea, Judge Cronan dismissed Grant’s custody petition as moot after Grant died.
Walter Grant’s petition was dismissed because his death left the court unable to grant the requested release; Paul M. Gonyea prevailed on the mootness issue.
What happened
Walter Grant, representing himself, asked the court to order his release from custody. The petition was brought under a federal law allowing challenges to state custody.
Grant died on January 12, 2020, while the case was pending. The court determined that his death meant he was no longer in custody and that the court could not grant the release he had requested.
Judge John P. Cronan dismissed the petition as moot and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case. The court did not decide whether Grant’s custody had been lawful.
The detailed version
- Grant v. Gonyea · No. 1:18-cv-07720
- John Cronan
- Mar. 8, 2021
Background
Walter Grant filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his custody and seeking release. He represented himself. Paul M. Gonyea filed an answer opposing the petition.
The court later learned that Grant had died on January 12, 2020. After confirming his death through the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s inmate-information website, the court asked Gonyea to address whether the death made the case moot. Gonyea argued that Grant’s death deprived the court of authority to decide the case and that the petition should be dismissed.
Issue
The issue was whether Grant’s death made his custody challenge moot. A case is moot when the court can no longer provide the requested relief.
Reasoning
The court noted that the Second Circuit had dismissed a similar appeal as moot after the petitioner died, although that decision was unpublished. The court also considered decisions from other federal appeals courts holding that a custody challenge becomes moot when the petitioner dies. Those decisions reasoned that the central purpose of this type of petition is to obtain release from unlawful custody.
The court concluded that Grant’s death meant he was no longer “in custody” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Because he was no longer in custody, the court could not order the release he sought. The court therefore did not reach the legality of his custody or the merits of his petition.
Disposition
Judge John P. Cronan dismissed the petition as moot. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.