Withers v. Beebe et al

Filing 4

ORDER DISMISSING CASE without prejudice for failure to state a claim against the defendants. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 1/26/12. (kpr)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS

WESTERN DIVISION

JAMES LEE WITHERS
v.

PLAINTIFF
No.4:12-cv-44-DPM

MIKE BEEBE, Governor; and
LARRY B. NORRIS, Director of
the Corrections Department

DEFENDANTS
ORDER

Withers's motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, Document No.1,
is granted. 28 U.s.C. § 1915(a)(1).
Service is not appropriate. If a court finds at any time that an in forma

pauperis case is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim, "the court shall
dismiss the case[.]" 28 U.s.C. § 1915(e)(2). An action is factually frivolous" if
the facts alleged are clearly baseless, a category encompassing allegations that
are fanciful, fantastic, and delusional[.]" Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25,
32-33 (1992) (internal quotations omitted). A court may not dismiss an in

forma pauperis action simply because the allegations in the complaint are
unlikely or improbable. 504 U.S. at 33. Instead, a court may dismiss a case as
frivolous only "when the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the
wholly incredible[.]" Ibid.

Withers's one-paragraph .complaint requests "pay for Capital
Punishment executions carried out by me in 1960 and the right to leave the
State of Arkansas and transportation to my government automobile to leave
the State." Document No.2, at 1. He further seeks "retrieval of my name
before I assumed the name of James Lee Withers." Ibid. The complaint
contains no mention of the Defendants and has no factual allegations other
than what is implied in Withers's requests.
This lawsuit moves past the unlikely or implausible into the realm of the
delusional,"the irrational [and] the wholly incredible[.]" Denton, 504 U.s. at
33. Because Withers's in forma pauperis case is frivolous and because it fails
to state any claim against the Defendants, the Court must dismiss it. 28 U.s.C.
§ 1915(e)(2)(B)(i) & (ii). Withers's complaint is therefore dismissed without

prejudice.
So Ordered.

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