Hawes v. State of Georgia

Filing 28

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25 of the U.S. Magistrate Judge as the opinion of the Court. The Court OVERRULES Plaintiff's Objections, DENIES Hawes' Section 2254 Petition, DENIES as moot all pending Motions, DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to CLOSE this case and enter the appropriate judgment of dismissal, and DENIES Hawes in forma pauperis status on appeal and a Certificate of Appealability. Signed by District Judge R. Stan Baker on 08/27/2020. (JH)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
STATESBORO DIVISION

JAMES E. HAWES,
Petitioner,

CIVIL ACTION NO.: 6:18-cv-48

v.
STATE OF GEORGIA; and MICHAEL
NIALL,
Respondents.

ORDER
Having conducted an independent and de novo review of the entire record, the concurs
with the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation, (doc. 25). Petitioner James Hawes
(“Hawes”) filed Objections to this Report and Recommendation, (doc. 27).
The Magistrate Judge recommended the Court deny Hawes’ Petition as barred under
Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 488 (1989), and because the state courts’ determinations of the claims
Hawes raised in his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus are entitled to deference.
(Doc. 25, pp. 7–14.) The Magistrate Judge also recommended the Court deny as moot any pending
Motions. (Id., p. 1.) While Hawes’ Objections are responsive to the Magistrate Judge’s Report
and Recommendation, his Objections are without merit and are little more than an iteration of the
claims he originally set forth in these proceedings and that the Magistrate Judge correctly
addressed. Having reviewed the Report and Recommendation and the Objections under a de novo
standard, the Court finds that Hawes offers nothing in his Objections to call the Magistrate Judge’s
recommended disposition into question.

Accordingly, the Court OVERRULES Plaintiff’s Objections and ADOPTS the Magistrate
Judge’s Report and Recommendation as the opinion of the Court. The Court DENIES Hawes’
Section 2254 Petition, DENIES as moot all pending Motions, DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to
CLOSE this case and enter the appropriate judgment of dismissal, and DENIES Hawes in forma
pauperis status on appeal and a Certificate of Appealability.1
SO ORDERED, this 27th day of August, 2020.

R. STAN BAKER
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

1

Petitioner has also filed a “Petition for Writ of Mandamus,” (doc. 26), in which he requests that the United
States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit order this Court to issue a report and recommendation and
final order in this case. To the extent that Petitioner requested any relief of this Court through that filing,
that request is denied as moot.
2