Lu v. Rocah
- Nelson Roman
- 7:22-cv-09715
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Lu v. Rocah, Judge Roman let Lu withdraw one claim, treated the rest as a detention challenge, and denied it because a state criminal case was pending.
Jianqiao Lu’s detention challenge and withdrawn Count V were affected; the defendants’ pending motion to dismiss was denied as moot, and the action was terminated.
What happened
In Lu v. Rocah, Jianqiao Lu, who was held before trial in the Westchester County Jail, challenged New York criminal-weapon laws and sought release. He brought one claim under a civil-rights statute and the remaining claims as a petition challenging his detention.
The court granted Lu’s request to withdraw Count V without prejudice and granted his request to treat the remaining claims as a petition under federal law governing challenges to detention. Applying its earlier ruling, the court denied the detention petition because federal courts generally must not interfere with a parallel, ongoing state criminal prosecution. The court also denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss as moot.
Judge Nelson S. Roman terminated the action. The court stated in its discussion that it dismissed the detention petition, while its conclusion stated that it denied the petition; both the withdrawal of Count V and the denial of the defendants’ motion were expressly ordered.
The detailed version
- Lu v. Rocah · No. 7:22-cv-09715
- Nelson Roman
- June 28, 2023
Background
Jianqiao Lu, an incarcerated person proceeding without a lawyer, was being held as a pretrial detainee in the Westchester County Jail while facing charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. His amended pleading challenged several provisions of New York’s criminal-weapon laws.
The amended pleading identified Counts I through IV as claims seeking federal detention relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Count V was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and challenged the constitutionality of another New York weapon-law provision. Lu also sought immediate release through an application under 28 U.S.C. § 2243.
On June 15, 2023, the court denied that application. The court relied on the Younger abstention doctrine, which generally requires a federal court to refrain from interfering with a parallel, pending state criminal proceeding.
Rulings
The court granted Lu’s request to voluntarily withdraw Count V without prejudice. It also granted his request to construe the remainder of the action as a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.
The court then determined that its June 15 ruling applied to the remaining claims because Lu sought the same detention relief. Because the request was barred by the Younger abstention doctrine, the court stated in the discussion that it dismissed the § 2241 petition. In the conclusion, however, the court stated that it denied the § 2241 petition. The court also denied the defendants’ pending motion to dismiss as moot and terminated the action.
Other Matter
Lu separately requested a certificate of appealability for an appeal from the June 15 order. The court stated that it would address that request in a separate order.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.