MCNAIR v. U.S. GOVERNMENT

Filing 8

MEMORANDUM OPINION Signed by Judge James E. Boasberg on 7/7/2020. (adh, )

Case 1:20-cv-01106-UNA Document 8 Filed 07/07/20 Page 1 of 2

FILED
7/7/2020

Clerk, U.S. District & Bankruptcy
Court for the District of Columbia

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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U.S. GOVERNMENT,
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Defendant.
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_________________________________________ )
ANTHONY LEE McNAIR,

Civil Action No. 20-1106 (UNA)

MEMORANDUM OPINION
The plaintiff is a prisoner who currently is incarcerated at the Pender Correctional
Institution in Burgaw, North Carolina. Based on the Court’s review of the original complaint
(ECF No. 1), the plaintiff’s declaration (ECF No. 3-1) and memorandum (ECF No. 5), the
plaintiff challenges his criminal convictions in the North Carolina courts and demands his
immediate release from custody. Essentially, the plaintiff is filing a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus.
A habeas action is subject to jurisdictional and statutory limitations. See Braden v. 30th
Judicial Cir. Ct. of Ky., 410 U.S. 484 (1973). The proper respondent in a habeas corpus action is
the petitioner’s custodian, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 434-35 (2004), who in this case is
the Warden of the Pender Correctional Institution, whom the plaintiff fails to name as a
defendant. Even if the plaintiff had named the proper party, this Court cannot award the relief
he demands. The “district court may not entertain a habeas petition involving present physical
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Case 1:20-cv-01106-UNA Document 8 Filed 07/07/20 Page 2 of 2

custody unless the respondent custodian is within its territorial jurisdiction,” Stokes v. U.S.
Parole Comm’n, 374 F.3d 1235, 1239 (D.C. Cir. 2004), and the plaintiff’s custodian is not within
the territorial jurisdiction of this federal district court.
The Court will grant the plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss
the complaint and this civil action without prejudice. An Order is issued separately.

DATE: July 7, 2020

/s/
JAMES E. BOASBERG
United States District Judge

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