Gaines v. McIntosh
- John Cronan
- 1:21-cv-06619
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gaines v. McIntosh, Judge Cronan adopted the recommendation denying Gaines’s habeas petition and declined to issue a certificate of appealability.
Michael V. Gaines’s federal habeas petition was denied, and the court declined to issue a certificate of appealability. The opinion also states that the parties waived the right to object to the Report and Recommendation or obtain appellate review of it by failing to file timely objections.
What happened
In Gaines v. McIntosh, Michael V. Gaines asked the court for habeas relief, arguing that his trial and appeals lawyers were constitutionally ineffective, that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment, and that he was improperly denied a lawyer for postconviction proceedings.
A magistrate judge recommended denying the petition and declining to issue a certificate of appealability, which is required for certain federal habeas appeals. No one filed objections within the deadline, so the parties waived their right to object or seek appellate review of the recommendation.
Judge John P. Cronan nevertheless reviewed the recommendation independently, adopted it in full, denied the habeas petition, and declined to issue a certificate of appealability.
The detailed version
- Gaines v. McIntosh · No. 1:21-cv-06619
- John Cronan
- Aug. 4, 2022
Background
Michael V. Gaines petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, asking the federal court to review his custody. He argued that his trial and appellate counsel were unconstitutionally ineffective, that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment, and that he was unconstitutionally denied appointed counsel for postconviction proceedings.
Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron issued a Report and Recommendation on March 23, 2022. It recommended that the petition be denied and that the court decline to issue a certificate of appealability.
Review of the Recommendation
The Report and Recommendation gave the parties fourteen days after service to file objections and warned that failing to object on time would waive the right to object. No objections were filed, and the deadline passed. The court stated that the parties therefore waived their right to object to the recommendation or obtain appellate review of it.
Despite that waiver, the court conducted an independent review of the Report and Recommendation. The opinion states that the recommendation was well reasoned and its conclusions well founded, but it does not explain the recommendation’s analysis of Gaines’s individual claims.
Disposition
Judge John P. Cronan adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. The court therefore denied Gaines’s habeas petition and declined to issue a certificate of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A).
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.