Murphy v. Warden of Attica Correctional Facility
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:20-cv-03076
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Murphy v. Warden, Judge Engelmayer denied Murphy’s habeas petition after adopting the magistrate judge’s report and closed the case.
Donelle Murphy’s federal challenge to his New York state-court conviction was denied, and the case was closed. The warden prevailed in this proceeding.
What happened
In Murphy v. Warden of Attica Correctional Facility, Donelle Murphy asked the federal court to review his New York conviction and sentence. He argued that his lawyer was ineffective, that his due-process and witness-questioning rights were violated, and that the trial court wrongly refused a requested jury instruction.
A magistrate judge recommended denying the petition and separately denied Murphy’s request to pause the federal case while he pursued an unpreserved claim in state court. Murphy did not file timely objections to the recommendation, and later submitted an untimely letter challenging the denial of the pause.
The court found no clear error, adopted the recommendation in full, denied the petition, rejected Murphy’s challenge to the pause, and directed the clerk to close the case. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer also stated that the failure to file timely objections waived appellate review.
The detailed version
- Murphy v. Warden of Attica Correctional Facility · No. 1:20-cv-03076
- Paul Engelmayer
- Aug. 8, 2023
Background
Donelle Murphy, representing himself, filed a petition asking the federal court to review his state-court conviction under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The opinion states that a New York State Supreme Court jury convicted Murphy of attempted rape in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, and sexual abuse in the first degree. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on June 18, 2015.
Murphy challenged the conviction on several grounds, including ineffective assistance of counsel, violations of due process and the right to confront opposing witnesses, and the trial court’s refusal to give a requested “missing witness” jury instruction. The warden opposed the petition.
Report and Recommendation
On April 19, 2022, United States Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein recommended that the court deny Murphy’s petition. The same day, Judge Gorenstein denied Murphy’s request to stay, or pause, the federal proceeding so Murphy could pursue an unpreserved claim in state court. The stated reason was that Murphy had not shown good cause for failing to exhaust that claim in state court first.
No party filed objections directed at the report’s findings. The district court therefore reviewed the report for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake on the face of the record. The court found none and adopted the report in its entirety.
Later Letter and Ruling
Murphy later filed a letter motion challenging Judge Gorenstein’s order. The district court treated the letter as an untimely objection to the denial of the stay, rather than as an objection to the report recommending denial of the petition. The court found Murphy’s arguments unpersuasive because they did not address the stated basis for denying the stay: his failure to show good cause for not exhausting his claims in state court before filing his federal petition or amended petition.
The court accepted and adopted Judge Gorenstein’s report in its entirety, denied Murphy’s petition, and directed the clerk to close the case. The court also stated that the parties’ failure to file timely objections waived appellate review, based on the deadline and warning described in the report.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.