Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio
- Nelson Roman
- 7:23-cv-03860
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio, Judge Krause ordered a refund of a duplicate filing fee and denied fee-free appeal status.
Holger Lema-Yaucan will receive a refund of the duplicate $5 filing-fee payment. His ability to appeal this order without prepaying fees was denied.
What happened
In Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio, Holger Lema-Yaucan filed a self-represented petition under a federal law allowing challenges to state-court convictions. The court had instructed him to pay a $5 filing fee or request permission to proceed without paying it. He paid the $5 fee twice.
The court directed the Clerk of Court to refund the second $5 payment and mail it to Lema-Yaucan at his address on record. The court also determined that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal.
Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause issued the order on June 20, 2023. The order addressed the duplicate payment and appeal-fee status; it did not decide the underlying petition.
The detailed version
- Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio · No. 7:23-cv-03860
- Nelson Roman
- June 20, 2023
Background
Holger Lema-Yaucan filed this self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On May 10, 2023, the court directed him within 30 days either to pay the $5 filing fee or to submit a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court received his $5 payment that same day. On June 12, 2023, it received a second $5 payment from him.
Rulings
The court directed the Clerk of Court to issue a refund of the second $5 payment and mail it to Lema-Yaucan at his address of record.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order did not rule on the substance of Lema-Yaucan's petition.
Judge
Andrew E. Krause, United States Magistrate Judge, issued the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.