Dunn v. Nevada Supreme Court et al

Filing 10

ORDER denying 6 Motion for District Judge to Reconsider Order. This prosecution is summarily Remanded back to State Court. Signed by Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey on 6/12/2017. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF, cc: State Court w/Certified Docket Sheet - JM)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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John Michael Dunn,

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2:17-cv-00921-JAD-VCF

Petitioner
Order Overruling Objections

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v.

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Nevada Supreme Court, et al.,

[ECF No. 6]
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Respondents

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John Michael Dunn filed this action to seek a “Federal Intervening Injunction” in his pending

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criminal prosecution in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court.1 I screened Dunn’s petition under

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the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA)2 and dismissed it under Younger v. Harris, which teaches

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that a federal court may not interfere with ongoing state criminal proceedings absent extraordinary

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circumstances.3 Younger abstention is appropriate when (1) state judicial proceedings are pending;

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(2) the state proceedings involve important state interests; and (3) the state proceedings afford

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adequate opportunity to raise the constitutional issue.4 Only in exceedingly rare cases of proven

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harassment or prosecutions undertaken by state officials in bad faith without hope of obtaining a

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valid conviction have courts found federal injunctive relief against pending state prosecutions

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appropriate.5 I found that all of the requirements for Younger abstention are present here and that

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Dunn had not shown that any extraordinary circumstances justify federal court intervention in his

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ECF No. 3.
See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e).

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Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 44 (1971); Middlesex Cty Ethics Comm’n v. Garden State Bar
Ass’n, 457 U.S. 423, 431 (1982).

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Middlesex Cty, 457 U.S. at 432; Dubinka v. Judges of the Superior Court, 23 F.3d 218, 223 (9th
Cir. 1994).
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Carden v. Montana, 626 F.2d 82, 83–84 (9th Cir. 1980), cert denied, 449 U.S. 1014 (1980) (citing
Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 85 (1971)).
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pending state criminal prosecution. So I dismissed and closed his case.6 Dunn appealed that

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decision and filed a “Notice to Remove Case” under 28 U.S.C. 1455 and “Objection to Magistrate

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Judges Findings & Recommendations.”7

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A.

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Dunn cannot remove his state-court prosecution to federal court.
First, Dunn cannot remove his state-court conviction into this civil action, and he has not

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demonstrated any legal basis for this court to remove his action here. 28 U.S.C. § 1445 provides the

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procedure for removal, but sections 1442, 1442(a), and 1443 provide the grounds (prosecutions

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against federal officers acting under color of law, members of the armed forces acting under color of

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law, or prosecutions giving rise to certain limited types of race-based civil-rights violations). Dunn

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has not demonstrated that any of these grounds are present in his case. He demands removal because

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he contends that his prosecution violates his “federally protected rights” generally because it is based

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on “forging judges [sic] signatures on search warrants, sealing orders and electronic surveillance

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court orders,” “perjury and tainted evidence submitted to grand jury,” “multiple parties conspiring to

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convict,” “court appointed counsel aidding [sic] and abett[ing] the outrageous misconduct in the 8th

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Judicial District Court,” “fraud, collusion, trickery” and “conspiracy.”8 It thus clearly appears to me

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on the face of the notice and the exhibits annexed thereto that removal should not be permitted.

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Accordingly, to the extent that his petition for removal has been recognized in this or the state court,

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it is DENIED, and his prosecution is summarily REMANDED under 28 U.S.C. § 1455(b)(4).

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B.

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Dunn has not demonstrated a basis for relief from dismissal.
Dunn’s characterization of his post-dismissal filing as an “objection” to a magistrate judge’s

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findings and recommendations is error. There are no magistrate-judge findings and

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recommendations in this case. The undersigned penned the order dismissing this case, and she is a

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district judge. So, even though Dunn has not cited Rule 60 as a basis for his challenge of my

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dismissal order, I liberally construe these “objections” as a request for relief from the order under

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ECF No. 4.

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ECF No. 6.

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ECF No. 6-1 at 2.

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Rule 60.

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FRCP 60(b) authorizes courts to relieve a litigant of the effects of an order under a limited set

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of circumstances including mistake, and “any other reason that justifies relief.”9 But Dunn has not

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demonstrated any reason for relief under Rule 60(b). I dismissed his case because he is challenging

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the acts of the prosecutors and the courts involved in his active criminal prosecution.10 Nothing that

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Dunn states in his objections persuades me that Younger dismissal was inappropriate or that any

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Rule 60(b) ground exists.

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Accordingly,

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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that to the extent that his petition for removal has been

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recognized in this or the state court, it is DENIED, and this prosecution is summarily

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REMANDED back to state court under 28 U.S.C. § 1455(b)(4);

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Dunn’s Objection to Magistrate Judges Findings &
Recommendations, which I construe as a Rule 60(b) motion [ECF No. 6], is DENIED.

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Dated this 12th day of June, 2017.

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_________________________________
___________________
_ _____ _ _ _
Jennifer A. Dorsey
Dorsey
o y
United States District Judge
District Judge
ates Dist
g

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Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 60(b).
ECF No. 4.
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