Houle v. Roberts

Filing 19

ORDER adopting Report and Recommendations re 17 Report and Recommendations; overruling 18 Objection; denying 11 Motion to Sever. Ordered by Judge Hugh Lawson on 8/15/2011. (nbp)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
VALDOSTA DIVISION
JUSTIN RYAN HOULE,
Petitioner,
Civil Action 7:10-CV-66 (HL)
v.
28 U.S.C. § 2254
STEVE ROBERTS, Superintendent,
Respondent.
ORDER
The Order and Recommendation (Doc. 17) of United States Magistrate Judge
Thomas Q. Langstaff, entered July 12, 2011, is before the Court. Magistrate Judge
Langstaff denied Respondent’s Motion to Sever and recommended that
Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss be denied.
Respondent has filed an objection to the Order and Recommendation.
Respondent contends that the Magistrate Judge erred in concluding that severance
was not required, and further states that once the claims are severed, certain
grounds in the § 2254 petition should be dismissed as untimely.
The

Court

finds

no

error

in

the

Magistrate

Judge’s

Order

and

Recommendation. Rule 2(e) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases states: “A
petitioner who seeks relief from judgments of more than one state court must file a
separate petition covering the judgment or judgments of each court.” Here, the
petition concerns judgments from only one state court, the Superior Court of Irwin

County, and all of the judgments are under the same case number from that
Superior Court. While the Court understands Respondent’s policy concerns, the
language of Rule 2(e) is clear, and the Court is bound by that rule as it is written.
The Motion to Sever was properly denied, and as the claims asserted by Petitioner
have not been severed, the Motion to Dismiss must be denied as well.
The Court accepts and adopts the Order and Recommendation (Doc. 17).
Respondent’s objection (Doc. 18) is overruled. The Motion to Sever and Dismiss
Grounds as Untimely (Doc. 11) is denied. This case is referred back to Magistrate
Judge Langstaff for further proceedings.
SO ORDERED, this the 15 th day of August, 2011.
s/ Hugh Lawson
HUGH LAWSON, SENIOR JUDGE

mbh

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