Clay v. Smith

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FILED JAN 2 9 2Ul0 Kenneth Clay, ) Clerk, U.S. District and ) 8ankruptcy Courts Petitioner, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. ) Hugh Smith, ) ) 10 (J172 Respondent. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Petitioner, proceeding pro se, has submitted an application for a writ of habeas corpus

along with an application to proceed in forma pauperis. The Court will grant the application to

proceed in forma pauperis and will dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.

Petitioner is a Georgia state prisoner at the Dodge State Prison challenging a conviction

entered by the Superior Court of Muscogee County. Pet. at 2. Federal court review of state

convictions is available under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 only after the exhaustion of available state

remedies. See 28 U.S.c. §2254(b)(1). Thereafter, "an application for a writ of habeas corpus []

made by a person in custody under the judgment and sentence of a State court ... may be filed in

the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the

district within which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced [petitioner] and

each of such district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the application." 28

U.S.C. § 2241 (d). Petitioner has no recourse here. A separate Order of dismissal accompanies

this Memorandum Opinion.

~ Date: January /.3,2010

IV