Dawes v. The People

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: September 10, 2019
• Docket: 3:19-cv-01524
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 WILLIAM DAWES, Case No.: 19cv1524 AJB (NLS)

12 Petitioner, ORDER: (1) GRANTING MOTION 13 v. TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS; and (2) DISMISSING 14 THE PEOPLE, Warden, CASE WITHOUT PREJUDICE AND 15 Respondent. WITH LEAVE TO AMEND 16 17 Petitioner, a pre-trial detainee proceeding pro se, has filed a petition for writ of 18 habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 together with a motion to proceed in forma 19 pauperis. 20 MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS 21 Petitioner has $0.20 on account at the California correctional institution in which 22 he is presently confined. Petitioner cannot afford the $5.00 filing fee. Thus, the Court 23 GRANTS Petitioner’s application to proceed in forma pauperis, and allows Petitioner to 24 prosecute the above-referenced action without being required to prepay fees or costs and 25 without being required to post security. The Clerk of the Court shall file the Petition for 26 Writ of Habeas Corpus without prepayment of the filing fee. 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 BASIS FOR THE PETITION 2 Petitioner filed this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. He is currently a pretrial 3 detainee in the San Diego County Jail awaiting trial and thus 28 U.S.C. § 2241 may be 4 the proper vehicle to challenge such a detention. Petitioner also states in his petition, 5 however, that he is challenging a conviction from Orange County Superior Court which 6 occurred in 2008. (Pet., ECF No. 1 at 1.) Orange County is within the jurisdictional 7 boundaries of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, 8 Southern Division, not the United States District Court for the Southern District of 9 California. See 28 U.S.C. § 84(c)(3). Further, Petitioner states he is challenging a 10 conviction or state criminal proceeding based on “double jeopardy, being tried again for 11 competency of murder case from 2005 which has been closed since 2010,” and gives two 12 case numbers, San Diego Superior Court case no. SCS287189 and California Supreme 13 Court case no. S254694. According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s website,1 14 Petitioner is currently in custody in case no. SCS287189 for various crimes committed 15 while he was in prison. The California Supreme Court website2 states that a petition for 16 writ of habeas corpus was denied on June 19, 2019, but provides no further information. 17 In short, it is unclear what conviction or proceeding Petitioner is challenging, 18 whether he is challenging his detention as a pre-trial detainee or his detention pursuant to 19 a judgment of a state court, and whether 28 U.S.C. § 2241 or 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is the 20 proper vehicle to pursue his claims. See White v. Lambert, 370 F.3d 1002, 1006-07 (9th 21 Cir. 2004) (holding that section 2254 is the proper jurisdictional basis for a habeas 22

23 1 San Diego County Sheriff maintains a website entitled “Who’s In Jail” which provides 24 information on San Diego County inmates. See 25 https://apps.sdsheriff.net/wij/wijDetail.aspx?BookNum=%2fTrm6M0WP1mTwssSLzXX Z4CiL5s2dHhf6%2bNp3PWI2ws%3d 26 2 See 27 https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/mainCaseScreen.cfm?dist=0&doc_id= 2281253&doc_no=S254694&request_token=NiIwLSIkTkw3WyBZSCJdSEJIMEA0UD 28 1 || petition brought by an individual “in custody pursuant to a state court judgment” and is 2 || properly understood as “in effect implementing] the general grant of habeas corpus 3 || authority found in § 2241 as long as the person is in custody pursuant to the judgment of 4 ||a state court, and not in state custody for some other reason, such as pre-conviction 5 || custody, custody awaiting extradition, or other forms of custody that are possible without 6 conviction.’’) 7 CONCLUSION 8 It is unclear to the Court whether 28 U.S.C. § 2241 is the proper vehicle for 9 || Petitioner’s claims. Accordingly, the Court DISMISSES this case without prejudice and 10 || with leave to amend. If Petitioner seeks to challenge his pre-trial detention, he may file 11 amended petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 no later than October 21, 2019. If 12 || Petitioner seeks to challenge a state court conviction he must file a petition for writ of 13 ||habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 which will be given a new case number. The 14 || Clerk of Court is directed to mail Petitioner a blank First Amended Petition pursuant 15 28 U.S.C. § 2241 form and a blank Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 16 ||28 U.S.C. § 2254 form together with a copy of this Order. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 || Dated: September 10, 2019 Q 19 Hon, Anthony J.Battaglia 20 United States District Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28