In re: William White

Filing

NOT PRECEDENTIAL PER CURIAM OPINION Coram: CHAGARES, VANASKIE and KRAUSE, Circuit Judges. Total Pages: 3. DLD-266

Case: 17-1722

Document: 003112649213

Page: 1

DLD-266

Date Filed: 06/13/2017

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 17-1722
___________
IN RE: WILLIAM A. WHITE,
Petitioner
____________________________________
On a Petition for Writ of Mandamus from the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(Related to E.D. Pa. Crim. No. 2:03-mj-00137-1)
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Rule 21, Fed. R. App. P.
May 25, 2017
Before: CHAGARES, VANASKIE, and KRAUSE, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: June 13, 2017)
_________
OPINION *
_________

PER CURIAM
Williams A. White petitions for a writ of mandamus. White, who is currently
incarcerated, requests an order compelling the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania to docket his motion to compel or, in the alternative, provide him

*

This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.

Case: 17-1722

Document: 003112649213

Page: 2

Date Filed: 06/13/2017

with the case number and docket sheet for an “improperly not publicly reported, and,
presumably sealed, criminal matter” [sic] involving Joshua Caleb Sutter.
It appears that Sutter was arrested and charged with firearm-related offenses in the
Eastern District in February 2003. See United States v. Sutter, Crim. No. 2:03-mj-001371; 2:03-cr-00158-ER-1 (E.D. Pa.). White alleges that Sutter spent 22 months in prison
and then became a “deep-cover informant for an unlawful FBI-JTTF counter-intelligence
program,” where he engaged in numerous illegal activities and, notably, stole White’s
identity, used White’s stolen identity to commit other unspecified crimes, threatened an
unnamed witness who could testify to the identity theft, and conspired to murder White.
White alleges that he learned of Sutter’s previous arrest in the Eastern District in
August 2016, and wrote to the Clerk of Court requesting a copy of the docket and record.
White did not include a case number in his initial letter, and the District Court did not
respond. He filed a motion to compel in December 2016 which merely included one
reference to the proceedings before the magistrate judge. After the District Court did not
respond or docket his motion to compel, he petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus.
Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy, In re Pasquariello, 16 F.3d 525, 528 (3d
Cir. 1994), and is appropriate only when a petitioner shows that he has (1) no other
adequate means of obtaining the desired relief and (2) a “clear and indisputable” right to
issuance of the writ. Haines v. Liggett Grp. Inc., 975 F.2d 81, 89 (3d Cir. 1992) (citing
Kerr v. United States District Court, 426 U.S. 394, 403 (1976)).

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Case: 17-1722

Document: 003112649213

Page: 3

Date Filed: 06/13/2017

White does not meet this standard. The docket listing that White apparently seeks
is available at United States v. Sutter, 2:03-cr-00158-ER-1 (E.D. Pa.). White did not
reference this number in any of his previous requests. White may request copies from the
record by contacting the Clerk’s Office and paying the appropriate fee. As White has
adequate means to obtain what he seeks, the petition for mandamus is denied.

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