SLATER v. SMITH

Filing 14

OPINION. Signed by Judge Noel L. Hillman on 11/21/2022. (dmr)(n.m.)

Case 1:21-cv-11627-NLH Document 14 Filed 11/21/22 Page 1 of 4 PageID: 205

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
______________________________
:
CHRISTOPHER SLATER,
:
:
Petitioner,
:
Civ. No. 21-11627 (NLH)
:
v.
:
OPINION
:
EUGENE CALDWELL,
:
:
Respondent.
:
______________________________:
APPEARANCES:
Christopher Slater
661281B/1305296
South Woods State Prison
215 South Burlington Rd.
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Petitioner pro se
James R. Birchmeier, Esq.
Birchmeier & Powell LLC
1891 State Highway 50
PO Box 582
Tuckahoe, NJ 08250-0582
Attorneys for Respondent
HILLMAN, District Judge
Petitioner Christopher Slater filed a petition for writ of
habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his pretrial
detention in the Cumberland County Jail.
opposed the petition.

ECF No. 5.

ECF No. 1.

Respondent

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Petitioner filed a change of address notification on
October 12, 2022 informing the Court that he is now incarcerated
in South Woods State Prison.

ECF No. 10.

The Court issued an

Order to Show Cause on October 19, 2022 asking why the petition
should not be dismissed as moot.

ECF No. 11.

a response on November 7, 2022.

Petitioner filed

ECF No. 12.

Petitioner requested relief under § 2241 on due process
grounds and allegedly unconstitutional conditions of confinement
at the Cumberland County Jail.

ECF No. 1.

He claimed he was

“missing discovery” and had “no proper way to talk to [his]
attorney.”

Id. at 7.

He alleged that the Cumberland County

Jail mishandled its response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
jeopardizing his health and safety.

Id.

District courts have jurisdiction under § 2241 to issue a
writ of habeas corpus before a criminal judgment is entered
against an individual in state court.
F.2d 437, 441-42 (3d Cir. 1975).

Moore v. De Young, 515

This includes claims that

pretrial conditions of confinement violate the Constitution.
See Hope v. Warden York County Prison, 972 F.3d 310 (3d Cir.
2020).

However, Petitioner has been convicted, sentenced, and

relocated to state prison since he filed this petition.
In response to the Court’s Order to Show Cause, Petitioner
argues that he “pleaded out on the charges only because of the
many trail [sic] and mental suffering from the conditions I was
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being held under as well as being retaliated upon and then being
ship[ped] from Cumberland County Jail to Hudson County Jail.”
ECF No. 12.

He also asserts his trial counsel was ineffective

because trial counsel failed to file an appeal.

Id.

Petitioner’s conviction and sentence moot his challenge to his
pretrial detention.

See Clark v. Payne, 341 F. App’x 355, 356

(10th Cir. 2009) (“[Section] 2241 petitions that challenge a
defendant’s pretrial custody become moot upon the conviction of
the petitioner.”); Williams v. New Jersey, No. 18-14964, 2020 WL
3259223, at *2 (D.N.J. June 16, 2020).

“[I]f a case no longer

presents a live case or controversy, the case is moot, and the
federal court lacks jurisdiction to hear it.”

Williams, 2020 WL

3259223, at *2 (citing Nextel W. Corp. v. Unity Twp., 282 F.3d
257, 261 (3d Cir. 2002)).

Any challenge to his state conviction

must be filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 after he exhausts all his
state court remedies.
The Court will dismiss the § 2241 petition as moot.

The

dismissal is without prejudice to Petitioner’s right to bring a
petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, if necessary, after he has
exhausted his state court remedies, or a civil rights complaint
based on this allegations concerning the conditions of his pretrial confinement.1

To the extent a certificate of appealability

“In the case of a damages claim, habeas corpus is not an
appropriate or available federal remedy.” Preiser v. Rodriguez,
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is required, the Court declines to issue one because reasonable
jurists would agree that the petition is moot.

28 U.S.C. §

2253; Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000).
An appropriate Order will be entered.

Dated: November 21, 2022
At Camden, New Jersey

s/ Noel L. Hillman
NOEL L. HILLMAN, U.S.D.J.

411 U.S. 475, 494 (1973). Petitioner may file a civil rights
complaint for damages, if he so wishes. The Court will instruct
the Clerk to mail a blank civil rights form and blank in forma
pauperis application to Petitioner. The Court expresses no
opinion as to whether any forthcoming complaint meets the
requirements of the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Similarly,
the Court expresses no opinion as to whether any forthcoming
petition will meet the requirements of § 2254.
4