Brown v. Garnett
Filing
8
MEMORANDUM Order Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 1/10/2017. (bg, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
JABARI BROWN, Reg. No. K69370,
Petitioner,
v.
JASON C. GARNETT, Warden,
Big Muddy River Corr. Ctr.,
Respondent.
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Case No. 16 C 11653
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Last week pro se plaintiff Jabari Brown (“Brown”) filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (“Section
2254”) Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (the “Petition”) that has been assigned at random to
this Court’s calendar. Brown has accompanied the Petition with two Clerk’s-Office-prepared
forms: an In Forma Pauperis Application (“Application”) and a Motion for Attorney
Representation (“Motion”). This memorandum order reflects the results of this Court’s
preliminary review of Brown’s submissions, as called for Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section
2254 Cases in the United States District Courts (“Section 2254 Rules”).
As for the Application, Brown is obviously unaware that the filing fee for a Section 2254
Petition is the extremely modest sum of $5, a charge that he is clearly capable of handling
(indeed, the Certificate from Big Muddy River Correctional Center, where he is in custody,
reported $632 in his trust fund account there as of December 22). Hence the Application
(Dkt. No. 3) is denied, and Brown is ordered to pay the $5 fee forthwith.
As to the Motion, Brown has failed to fill in the most important paragraph in that
document: its paragraph 2, which calls for him to identify his efforts to obtain counsel on his
own -- a requirement that our Court of Appeals’ jurisprudence has made a precondition to
considering such a motion favorably. But more importantly as a substantive matter, Brown’s
35-page Petition is a thorough and articulately presented document 1 reflecting familiarity with
both substantive case law and the intricate minutiae of the timing requirements of 28 U.S.C.
§ 2244. Because the Petition clearly calls for a response, this Court orders the Illinois Attorney
General’s Office to file that response on or before February 20, 2017 (once again see Section
2254 Rule 4). 2
In the meantime there is no need for Brown to be assisted by counsel at this time, so that
the Motion (Dkt. No. 4) is denied without prejudice. This Court anticipates taking a fresh look at
that matter after it has had an opportunity to review the responsive pleading, by then considering
(1) whether a reply should be ordered (see Section 2254 Rule 5(e)) or (2) whether Brown may
need the assistance of legal counsel if the responsive pleading is a legal motion.
__________________________________________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: January 10, 2017
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1
Brown’s Motion ¶ 5 states that he is a college graduate.
2
Brown has failed to submit a courtesy copy of his entire submission, including its bulky
exhibits, for delivery to this Court’s chambers. This Court will accordingly look to the litigants
to provide it with a paper copy of all exhibits to facilitate its review of the case.
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