Ali v. Lawrenceville Correctional Center

Filing 10

MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by District Judge Robert E. Payne on 12/28/2017. Copy mailed to pro se pettioner.(tjoh, )

P

...!

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE

:

I

L

E

[ j: r 2 , 2017

EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA

Richmond Division

CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT
RICHMOND. VA

ABIR ALI,

Petitioner,
V.

Civil Action No.

3:17CV656

LAWRENCEVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER,

Respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION

Abir All,

a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se,

submitted a

letter asking about the statute of limitations for filing a writ
of habeas corpus under § 2254.
October 17,

2017,

the

By Memorandum Order entered on

Court explained that

it would not

offer

legal advice to Ali and that the Court lacked jurisdiction to
consider

the

timeliness

actually filed.

(ECF No.

of

a

habeas

2, at 1.)

petition

until

it

is

The Court provided Ali an

opportunity to file a § 2254 petition and the Clerk mailed him
the

standardized

form

for

filing

such

an

action.

The

Court

directed Ali to complete and return the standardized form for
filing a § 2254 petition within twenty (20)
the entry of the October 17,
twenty
the

(20)

days of the date of

2017 Memorandum Order.

More than

days elapsed and Ali had not completed and returned

standardized

Memorandum Order.

form

or

otherwise

Accordingly,

responded

to

the

Court's

by Memorandum Opinion and Order

entered

on

November

13,

2017,

the

Court

dismissed

the

action

without prejudice.
On December 7,

papers

from

2017,

Ali.

the Court received a

The

packet

contained,

5) ,

alia,

the

§ 2254 petition

completed standardized form for filing a
No.

large packet of

inter

(ECF

with an attached letter demonstrating

that Ali mailed

the standardized form for filing a § 2254 petition to the United

States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit prior to November
6,

2017,

Ali.

and the Fourth Circuit simply returned the document to
(ECF

No.

8-1,

standardized form
Circuit

for

instead of

at

2.)

filing

a

this

Because

§

2254

Ali

petition to

Court prior to

the

the

the

Fourth

expiration of

twenty-day period allotted in the October 17,
Order,

returned

the

2017 Memorandum

the Court will deem the standardized form for filing a

§ 2254 Petition timely filed.

Accordingly,

the Court will vacate the November 13,

2017

Memorandum Order and reinstate the action on the active docket.

The Court will continue to process the action.

In the packet sent by Ali, many of the filings contained
writing on the reverse side of each page.
the

Court does

paper

that

contain

not

exceeds

writing

on

accept

854
the

documents

inches

by 11

reverse

side

Ali is warned that

or pleadings

inches
of

a

in
page.

submitted on

size,
Any

or

that

future

filing that contains writing on the reverse side of a page will
not be considered by the Court and will be returned to Ali.
The

Clerk

is

directed

to

send

a

copy

of

this

Memorandum

Opinion to Ali.
I t i s so ORDERED.

jts

Date:
Richmond, Virginia

Robert E. Payne

/S/

(1^4^

t/"^^Senior United States District Judge