Grace v. Rochwood

Background

Angelo Grace, who is incarcerated at Gouverneur Correctional Facility, filed a self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging the legality of his November 4, 2004 conviction in New York Supreme Court, New York County. The respondent is identified as Mark Rochwood, superintendent of that facility.

The court’s records showed that Grace had previously filed an application under Section 2254 challenging the same conviction. The court stated that the earlier application had been decided on the merits. As a result, the new application was a “second or successive” petition under the federal habeas statute, meaning a repeat petition challenging a state-court conviction.

Authorization Requirement

Federal law requires a petitioner to obtain authorization from the appropriate federal appeals court before filing a second or successive Section 2254 petition in a district court. The court stated that Grace therefore had to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for permission to pursue the application. The opinion also identified the statutory circumstances that such a motion must address, including a previously unavailable retroactive constitutional rule or newly discoverable facts meeting the statutory standard.

Ruling

The court transferred the petition to the Second Circuit in the interest of justice under 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The order closed the district-court case, but stated that Grace could move to reopen it under the same civil docket number if the Court of Appeals authorized him to proceed.

The court further ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue because Grace had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. It also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.