Mitchell v. Copp
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-08319
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mitchell v. Copp, Judge Swain transferred Mitchell’s successive habeas petition to the Second Circuit because authorization was required.
Elbert Mitchell’s later federal challenge to his 2002 New York state-court conviction was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Second Circuit; the district-court action was closed unless the Second Circuit authorizes it to proceed.
What happened
Mitchell v. Copp concerns Elbert Mitchell’s challenge to his 2002 New York state-court conviction. He filed the challenge while incarcerated and without a lawyer under a federal law allowing challenges to state convictions.
The court found that Mitchell had previously filed a petition challenging the same conviction and that the earlier petition was denied on its merits. Because this was a later petition, Mitchell needed permission from the Second Circuit before pursuing it in federal district court.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the action to the Second Circuit and closed it in the district court. She said Mitchell could ask to reopen the action if the Second Circuit authorized it, but she denied a certificate of appealability and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee.
The detailed version
- Mitchell v. Copp · No. 1:23-cv-08319
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 4, 2023
Background
Elbert Mitchell, who was incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, filed a petition without a lawyer under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. That law permits a person to challenge a state-court conviction in federal court. Mitchell challenged his January 24, 2002 conviction in the New York Supreme Court, New York County.
Why the Court Transferred the Case
The court’s records showed that Mitchell had previously filed a federal petition challenging the same conviction. The earlier petition was denied on the merits. The court therefore treated the current petition as a “second or successive” petition—a later petition challenging the same state-court judgment.
Federal law requires a person to obtain authorization from the appropriate federal appeals court before filing a second or successive Section 2254 petition in a federal district court. The court explained that Mitchell must ask the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for permission to pursue this action. The request must satisfy one of the statutory requirements concerning a previously unavailable, retroactive constitutional rule or newly discovered facts that would show, by clear and convincing evidence, that no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty without a constitutional error.
Ruling
In the interest of justice, Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the action to the Second Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The order closed the action in the Southern District of New York. It stated that Mitchell could move to reopen the action under the same civil docket number if the Second Circuit authorized him to proceed.
The court also ruled that no certificate of appealability would issue because Mitchell had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied. It certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee. The order did not decide the merits of Mitchell’s current challenge to his conviction.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.