BAILEY v. CAMERON

Filing 2

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER re 1 transferring petition to the Court of Appeals for consideration as a successive petition. Signed by Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell on 06/16/2014. (Mitchell, Robert)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

DEMETRIUS BAILEY, CP-7819,
Petitioner,

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v.
KENNETH CAMERON,
Respondent.

3:14-cv-121

MEMORANDUM
Mitchell, M.J.:
Demetrius Bailey, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale has
presented a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In his petition, Bailey seeks to challenge his
December 20, 1994 sentence imposed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County at
Nos. CC199406409 and CC. 199408102.
However, this is not Bailey's first federal petition challenging his conviction. Civil Action
01-5 was dismissed as untimely on September 13, 2001 and on October 7, 2002, the United
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied a certificate of appealability and certiorari
was denied on April 7, 2003. A subsequent Rule 60(b) motion was filed and denied and on
March 22, 2005 the Court of Appeals again denied a certificate of appealability. Bailey again
filed a Rule 60(b) motion which was denied and a certificate of appealability was denied on
February 6, 2008. On October 7, 2008, the Court of Appeals denied his petition as a successive
petition. Civil Action No. 2:13-cv-653 was transferred to the Court of Appeals for consideration
as a successive petition and on June 25, 2013, the petition was deemed successive by the Court
of Appeals. Not satisfied, on September 17, 2013, Bailey submitted another habeas petition to
this Court which was docketed at 2:13-cv- 1362. On October 8, 2013, that petition was
transferred to the Court of Appeals for consideration as a successive petition and is presently
pending in that Court.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, signed into law on April 24, 1996,
included several major reforms to the federal habeas corpus laws. As part of this habeas corpus
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reform, Congress amended 28 U.S.C.' 2244 to prohibit district courts from entertaining claims
presented in a second or successive habeas corpus application unless the appropriate federal
court of appeals authorizes such filing. The relevant amended language provides as follows:
(A) Before a second or successive application permitted by this section is filed in
the district court, the applicant shall move in the appropriate court of appeals for
an order authorizing the district court to consider the application.
(B) A motion in the court of appeals for an order authorizing the district court to
consider a second or successive application shall be determined by a three-judge
panel of the court of appeals.
(C) The court of appeals may authorize the filing of a second or successive
application only if it determines that the application makes a prima facie showing
that the application satisfies the requirements of this subsection.
(D) The court of appeals shall grant or deny the authorization to file a second or
successive application not later than 30 days after the filing of the motion.
(E) The grant or denial of an authorization by a court of appeals to file a second or
successive application shall not be appealable and shall not be the subject of a
petition for rehearing or for a writ of certiorari.
28 U.S.C. ' 2244(b)(3).
Because the instant petition was improperly filed in this court as opposed to the Court of
Appeals as required by 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(3)(A), this Court lacks jurisdiction over it without the
authorization of the Court of Appeals, and it will be transferred to the United States Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1631 for consideration as a successive
petition.
An appropriate Order shall be entered.

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ORDER
AND NOW, this 16th day of June, 2014, for the reasons set forth in the foregoing
Memorandum, the petition of Demetrius Bailey for a writ of habeas corpus is transferred
forthwith to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§1631 for consideration as a successive petition.
s/ Robert C. Mitchell
United States Magistrate Judge

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