Lebron v. Capra
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:22-cv-09089
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Lebron v. Capra, Judge Abrams dismissed Lebron’s petition challenging his conviction as time barred after adopting an unobjected-to recommendation.
Hector Lebron’s federal challenge to his 2015 state conviction was dismissed as time barred.
What happened
In Lebron v. Capra, Hector Lebron challenged his 2015 New York conviction, alleging that he was denied a speedy trial and received an excessive sentence. He filed his federal petition under a law allowing challenges to state convictions in September 2022.
A magistrate judge warned Lebron that the petition appeared to miss the one-year filing deadline and ordered him to explain why it should not be dismissed. Lebron received more time but did not respond or object to the later recommendation to dismiss the case.
Judge Ronnie Abrams reviewed the recommendation for clear error, found none, and adopted it in full. The court dismissed the petition as time barred and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case and mail Lebron a copy of the order.
The detailed version
- Lebron v. Capra · No. 1:22-cv-09089
- Ronnie Abrams
- Jan. 25, 2024
Background
Hector Lebron filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his 2015 conviction in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Bronx County. He alleged that he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial after being held at Rikers Island for almost three years before pleading guilty, and that his sentence was excessive.
New York’s Court of Appeals denied Lebron leave to appeal in 2018. Lebron did not file his federal petition until September 27, 2022. The opinion explains that federal law generally provides a one-year deadline for filing this type of petition.
Proceedings Before the District Court
On January 12, 2023, Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang ordered Lebron to explain why his petition should not be dismissed as untimely. On February 13, 2023, Judge Wang granted Lebron’s request for more time to respond, but Lebron did not respond afterward.
On November 6, 2023, Judge Wang issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that the petition be denied as time barred and that the case be dismissed. The report also explained that a court may dismiss a case when a party fails to comply with court orders, treating that failure as a failure to prosecute. No party filed objections to the report.
Ruling
Because no objections were filed, the district court reviewed the report for clear error—that is, an obvious mistake on the face of the record. The court found no error and adopted Judge Wang’s report in its entirety.
The court dismissed the petition as time barred. It also directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the case and mail a copy of the order to Lebron.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.