Torres v. New York State Police

Background

The court received a letter from Jesus Torres, who was detained in the Orange County Jail. Torres asked the court to assist with his pending state criminal proceedings and referred to earlier attempts to move those proceedings to federal court. Because documents attached to the letter appeared to suggest civil claims related to those proceedings, the Clerk opened a new civil action.

The court determined that Torres had previously submitted the same documents in a related case, No. 23-CV-9380 (LTS). In that earlier proceeding, the court had denied his request to move his state criminal proceedings to federal court, denied his request for relief under the federal detention-review statute without prejudice and with leave to replead after showing exhaustion of administrative remedies, and directed the Clerk to open certain pleadings as a new civil action. The court’s footnote clarified that this case was filed before the January 2, 2024 order in the related proceeding and was not the new action opened because of that order.

Ruling

The court dismissed Torres’s complaint as duplicative of No. 23-CV-9380 (LTS), stating that any claims that could be understood from the new submission had already been asserted there. The dismissal was without prejudice to Torres’s pending case and to the new civil action opened under the January 2 order. The court directed the Clerk not to charge the $350 filing fee and directed the custodian of Torres’s funds not to deduct or encumber money from his prison trust account for this lawsuit. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The Clerk was directed to enter judgment.