Whitaker v. No Named Respondent

Filing 2

ORDER directing the Clerk to send Whitaker a 2254 form. ( Compliance due by 2/3/2017.). Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/4/17. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
MARIO WHITAKER,
Petitioner,
v.

CV416-328

NO NAMED RESPONDENT,

ORDER
Mario Whitaker has filed a self-styled “Petition for Certificate of
Appealability,” alleging that this Court “rejected many of [his] claims on
a procedural ground” 1 in “direct[ ] conflict[ ] with a subsequent Ninth
Circuit opinion.” Doc. 1 at 1 (citing United States v. Astrar, 116 F.3d
1268 (9th Cir. 1997)).
The federal courts have long made available to jails and prisons
specific forms for filing habeas and civil rights cases. In Williams v.
Freesemann, 2015 WL 6798946 (S.D. Ga. Oct. 15, 2015), this Court
noted that some inmate-litigants bypass those forms in favor of “homebrewed” filings. Adverse factors can motivate that effort. The Court’s

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A Pacer search of the federal dockets in Georgia, however, reveals no initial habeas
petition, much less one dismissed by this Court on procedural grounds.

forms force inmates to answer questions aimed at capturing things like
28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) strikes and repeat ( e.g. , successive writ) habeas
filings. See, e.g. , Bright v. Corizon Health Corp. , 2015 WL 9257155 at
* 1 (S.D. Ga. Dec. 18, 2015) (“Bright’s incentive to omit his prior case
information is strong because of the § 1915(g) three-strike bar.”).
“Home-brewers” typically omit those prophylactic questions from their
filings.
The Clerk is therefore DIRECTED to send Whitaker a § 2254 form
petition. Within 30 days after the Clerk serves him with a copy of this
Order and the form petition, petitioner must re-file both the petition
and any supporting memorandum of law explaining his entitlement to
habeas relief. If he fails to respond within 30 days of service of this
Order, the case will be recommended for dismissal on abandonment
grounds.

SO ORDERED, this 4th day of January, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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