Hasanati v. State of Florida

Background

Jahi Hasanati filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging a 2011 Florida conviction and a condition of his conditional medical release. The case was transferred to the Southern District of New York because Hasanati resides in Bronx County while on medical release from his Florida conviction.

Hasanati was convicted in Florida state court of racketeering, first- and second-degree grand theft, and conspiracy to commit grand theft. He received a total sentence of 45 years. Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction and sentence in 2013. In May 2022, Florida granted Hasanati conditional medical release.

One release condition required Hasanati to agree that he would not have a checking account during the release period. Hasanati argued that, because of his disability, he had to rely on federal benefits but could not access them because Florida prohibited him from opening a checking account.

In an earlier order, the court ruled that Hasanati needed permission from the Eleventh Circuit to pursue another federal petition attacking his Florida conviction. The court allowed him to file an amended petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 to challenge how his sentence was being carried out, including the checking-account condition. The court instructed him to show that the condition violated federal constitutional rights and that he had presented the claim to the state courts.

The conviction challenge

The amended petition primarily repeated Hasanati’s challenges to the validity of his Florida conviction and the statutes supporting it. The court noted that federal courts had previously rejected these arguments and that Hasanati had already filed multiple federal habeas petitions concerning the conviction.

Under the federal habeas statute, a person generally must obtain authorization from the appropriate federal appeals court before filing a second or successive petition challenging a state conviction. The court held that Hasanati could not bring another § 2254 petition challenging his conviction in the Southern District of New York without authorization from the Eleventh Circuit. It dismissed the petition without prejudice insofar as it challenged the conviction.

The checking-account condition

The court treated Hasanati’s challenge to the checking-account prohibition as a challenge to the administration of his sentence. Before a federal court may consider a state prisoner’s constitutional claim under § 2254, the prisoner must exhaust available state remedies by fairly presenting the claim to the state courts.

The court found that Hasanati’s amended petition added no meaningful facts about the checking-account condition and did not allege that he had presented this claim to the state courts. The court therefore dismissed the challenge to the conditions of his medical release, without prejudice, as unexhausted.

The court stated that, after exhausting the claim in state court, Hasanati could file a new § 2254 petition concerning the checking-account prohibition, subject to the federal one-year filing deadline and other applicable requirements.

Disposition

The court dismissed the amended § 2254 petition without prejudice. It determined that Hasanati had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied, so it would not issue a certificate of appealability. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Hasanati permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The clerk was directed to enter judgment.