D'Alcapone A. Morris v. Warden, Mansfield Correctional Institution

• Court: District Court, S.D. Ohio
• Decided: March 12, 2026
• Docket: 3:25-cv-00388
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION AT DAYTON

D'ALCAPONE A. MORRIS Petitioner, : Case No. 3:25-cv-00388 - vs - District Judge Michael J. Newman Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz

WARDEN, Mansfield Correctional Institution,

: Respondent. DECISION AND ORDER

This habeas corpus case, brought pro se by Petitioner D’Alcapone Morris under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, is before the Court on Petitioner’s Motion to Expand the Record (ECF No. 13). Exhibits A and B are described by Petitioner as pages from the trial transcript. Respondent’s counsel shall forthwith examine these exhibits and advise the Court if they are in fact pages from the trial transcript, furnishing the Court with the PageID citations for them. If they are not already part of the State Court Record, Respondent’s counsel shall advise the Court why they have not been included and whether Respondent objects to their addition to the record, presumably as parts of complete documents. Exhibits C, D, and E do not appear to have been part of the record that was before the state courts when they decided this case. Their addition to the record at this point is precluded by Cullen v. Pinholster, 563 U.S. 170 (2011). Pinholster bars a federal court “from admitting new evidence upon which to assess the reasonableness of a state court's constitutional analysis.” Upshaw v. Stephenson, 97 F. 4th 365, 372 (6th Cir. 2024), quoting Mitchell v. Genovese, 974 F.3d 638, 647 (6th Cir. 2020). Petitioner’s Motion to Expand is denied as to Exhibits C, D, and E.

March 12, 2026. s/ Michael R. Merz United States Magistrate Judge