Washington v. Walker
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-06565
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Washington v. Walker, Judge Swain denied the Section 2241 petition without prejudice after Washington failed to amend or withdraw it.
Jahsaun Washington's Section 2241 petition and any appeal from the order were affected; the court denied the petition without prejudice, declined to issue a certificate of appealability, and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Washington v. Walker, Jahsaun Washington filed a petition challenging his detention. The court had previously given him 60 days to say whether he wanted to withdraw the petition or file an amended one.
Washington did neither. The court therefore treated the original petition as one filed under Section 2241 and denied it without prejudice.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that no certificate allowing an appeal would issue, denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees, and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Washington v. Walker · No. 1:22-cv-06565
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 2, 2023
Background
Jahsaun Washington filed this action without a lawyer against S. Walker, identified in the caption as the warden at R.N.D.C. C-74. In an earlier order dated October 26, 2022, the court changed the legal classification of Washington's habeas petition to a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court gave Washington 60 days to tell the court whether he wanted to withdraw the petition or file an amended petition.
The earlier order stated that if Washington did not respond, the original petition would be treated as a Section 2241 petition and denied. Washington did not state whether he wanted to withdraw the petition and did not file an amended petition.
Ruling
The court designated the original petition as a petition under Section 2241 and denied that petition without prejudice. The opinion does not address the underlying claim because Washington did not comply with the court's instructions about withdrawing or amending the petition.
Appeal-Related Rulings
The court stated that the original petition did not make a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied, so a certificate of appealability would not issue. A certificate of appealability is court authorization required for certain appeals in habeas cases.
The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying court fees. Finally, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.