MacRae v. NH State Prison, Warden

Filing 4

ORDER re Preliminary Review and Order Directing Clerk to Make Service. So Ordered by Chief Judge Joseph N. Laplante.(cmp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Gordon MacRae
v.

Civil No. 14-cv-45-JL

Richard M. Gerry,
Warden, New Hampshire
State Prison
O R D E R
Gordon MacRae, serving a sentence in the New Hampshire State
Prison, has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28
U.S.C. § 2254, alleging that he is in custody in violation of the
United States Constitution.

Specifically, MacRae claims that his

convictions for felonious sexual assault, returned by a jury in
the Cheshire County Superior Court in 1993 and affirmed on direct
appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1996, were the
product of the ineffective assistance of his trial counsel, in
violation of MacRae’s Sixth Amendment rights.

MacRae also claims

that he is actually innocent of his crimes of conviction,
excusing his acknowledged failure to comply with the one-year
statute of limitations under § 2254.

See McQuiggin v. Perkins,

133 S. Ct. 1924 (2013).
Having conducted a preliminary review of MacRae’s petition
under Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the
United States District Court, this court rules that the petition
states a claim for relief that is valid on its face, i.e., it
does not plainly appear from the petition and its exhibits that
MacRae is not entitled to relief.

The clerk shall serve the

petition on the respondent, who is directed to answer or
otherwise plead within thirty (30) days of the date of this
Order.

The answer shall comply with the requirements of Rule 5

of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases.
SO ORDERED.

Joseph N. Laplante
United States District Judge
Dated:
cc:

April 16 , 2014

Robert Rosenthal, Esq.
Cathy J. Green, Esq.

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