Blaine v. United States of America

Filing 14

ORDER granting in part and denying in part movant Mr. Blaine's 12 Motion for Discovery. Signed by US Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on 10/30/17. (Duffy, Veronica)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA
SOUTHERN DIVISION

JOSHUA JAY BLAINE,

4:17-CV-04138-KES

Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND
DENYING IN PART MOTION FOR
DISCOVERY

vs.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Docket No. 12

Defendant.

This matter is pending before the court on the pro se motion to vacate,
correct, or set aside his sentence filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 by movant
Joshua Jay Blaine. See Docket No. 1. Mr. Blaine now moves the court for
copies of case file material, either from the court directly or from Mr. Blaine’s
trial counsel’s file. See Docket No. 12.
Mr. Blaine does not specify what “case file material” he desires. The
court notes that Mr. Blaine pleaded guilty in his underlying criminal case, was
sentenced, and pursued a direct appeal. See United States v. Blaine, 4:15-cr40069-KES-1, Docket Nos. 19, 23, 39-40, & 42 (D.S.D). As grounds for
collaterally attacking his sentence and conviction, he alleges claims of

ineffective assistance of counsel by trial counsel and various Fourth
Amendment violations. See Docket No. 1. The court will order that copies of
the transcripts of Mr. Blaine’s change of plea and sentencing hearings be
provided to him along with a copy of his petition to plead guilty. See Docket
Nos. 19, 46 & 47. Other than those documents, Mr. Blaine has not shown any
other “file documents” are relevant. Furthermore, Mr. Blaine has not shown an
entitlement to conduct discovery in this § 2255 motion. Therefore, no good
cause appearing, the court denies Mr. Blaine’s request for documents beyond
these.
Based on the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED that Mr. Blaine’s motion for case file materials [Docket
No. 12] is granted in part and denied in part as follows. The Clerk of Courts
office is directed to print out the documents at Docket Nos. 19, 46 & 47 of
Mr. Blaine’s underlying criminal case, 4:15-cr-40069-KES-1, and send those
copies to Mr. Blaine. Mr. Blaine’s motion is otherwise denied.
DATED this 30th day of October, 2017.
BY THE COURT:

VERONICA L. DUFFY
United States Magistrate Judge

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