Brooks v. Keyser
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:20-cv-03403
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Brooks v. Keyser, Judge Karas dismissed David Brooks’s petition challenging his custody as moot after learning Brooks had died.
David Brooks’s amended federal custody challenge was dismissed after the court determined that his death made the case moot; Keyser did not appear.
What happened
In Brooks v. Keyser, David Brooks, representing himself, filed a petition asking the federal court to review his state custody. The court directed him to pay the filing fee or request permission to proceed without paying it, and to explain whether he had pursued available state-court remedies. Brooks paid the fee but did not respond about those remedies.
After the case remained inactive, the court searched New York’s corrections records and found that Brooks had died around March 3, 2021. The court explained that a person’s death means the person is no longer in custody and that the court can no longer grant the release that a custody challenge seeks.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas dismissed the amended petition as moot and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case.
The detailed version
- Brooks v. Keyser · No. 7:20-cv-03403
- Kenneth Karas
- Feb. 7, 2024
Background
David Brooks, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 asking the federal court to review his custody. The court initially directed him either to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a request to proceed without paying it. The court also directed Brooks to explain whether he had exhausted available state-court remedies, such as seeking release in New York State court, or why that requirement should be excused.
Brooks paid the filing fee but did not respond regarding exhaustion. The court therefore never ordered Respondent Keyser to answer, and Keyser did not appear. The Clerk later filed an amended petition in this case that was nearly identical to a petition Brooks had filed in a separate action.
Death and Mootness
Because the case had been inactive since 2020, the court searched the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records using Brooks’s Department Identification Number. The court found that Brooks had died on or around March 3, 2021.
The court explained that a habeas case becomes moot when the petitioner dies while the petition is pending. A moot case is one in which the court can no longer provide the requested relief. Because habeas petitioners seek release from custody, Brooks’s death meant he was no longer in custody and the court could no longer grant that relief.
Disposition
The court dismissed the amended petition as moot because of Brooks’s death. It directed the Clerk of Court to close the case. The opinion does not state whether the dismissal was with or without prejudice.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.