Harris v. Blanckensee

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 9, 2022
Docket4:20-cv-00307
StatusUnknown

This text of Harris v. Blanckensee (Harris v. Blanckensee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Blanckensee, (D. Ariz. 2022).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Donte H Harris, No. CV-20-00307-TUC-RM (EJM)

10 Petitioner, REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 11 v.

12 Barbara V Blanckensee,

13 Respondent. 14 15 Pending before the Court is Petitioner Donte Harris’s pro se Petition Under 28 16 U.S.C. § 2241 for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in Federal Custody (“Petition”) 17 (Doc. 1). Respondent filed a Response (Doc. 10), and Petitioner filed a Reply (Doc. 12). 18 As an initial matter, the Court notes that the proper respondent in an action for 19 habeas corpus is the Petitioner’s custodian, who, at the time this action was filed, was 20 Barbara Von Blanckensee, warden of United States Penitentiary—Tucson. See 28 U.S.C. 21 § 2242; Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 435–36 (2004). The Court takes judicial notice 22 that Petitioner is currently incarcerated at USP—Allenwood, in Pennsylvania.1 The Court

23 1 The undersigned notes that Petitioner has failed to file and serve a notice of address change as required by LRCiv 83.3(d) and this Court’s Service Order (Doc. 6). The 24 undersigned used the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) Inmate Locator to determine that Petitioner is currently incarcerated at USP—Allenwood. 25 Pursuant to the Court’s Service Order (Doc. 6), failure to comply with the Order, including failure to notify the Court of a change of address, may result in dismissal of the 26 action without further notice. See Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F.2d 1258, 1260–61 (9th Cir. 1992) (a district court may dismiss an action for failure to comply with an order of the 27 Court). The undersigned submits that this action is therefore appropriate for dismissal for failure to prosecute (LRCiv 41.1), failure to notify the Court of address change (LRCiv 28 83.3), and failure to comply with an Order of the Court. For the reasons explained below, the undersigned also finds that dismissal is 1 will substitute the warden of USP—Allenwood, Herman Quay, as Respondent pursuant to 2 Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 3 Pursuant to Rules 72.1 and 72.2 of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure, this matter 4 was referred to Magistrate Judge Markovich for a Report and Recommendation. For the 5 reasons discussed below, the undersigned Magistrate Judge recommends that the District 6 Court deny and dismiss the Petition. 7 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 8 Petitioner is serving an aggregate sentence of 13 years and 5 months imprisonment 9 with a projected release date of August 9, 2024. (Doc. 13 Ex. A Attach. 1). 10 Petitioner filed his pro se Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 for a Writ of Habeas 11 Corpus on July 18, 2020. (Doc. 1). Petitioner alleges one ground for relief arguing that his 12 Fifth Amendment due process rights were violated during a disciplinary hearing for 13 Incident Report (“IR”) No. 3025608 because he was denied: 1) access to documentary 14 evidence relied on by the Disciplinary Hearing Officer (“DHO”); 2) exculpatory video 15 recordings; 3) exculpatory witnesses; and 4) “a NIK test confirming the alleged Suboxone 16 was in fact such.” Id. at 4. Petitioner requests that the Court vacate the IR by ordering 17 expungement and reinstating the 41 days of good conduct time that Petitioner was 18 sanctioned with. Id. at 9. 19 Respondent requests that the Court deny and dismiss the Petition on the merits 20 because Petitioner has failed to show that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) violated 21 his constitutional rights. (Doc. 10). 22 For the reasons explained below, the undersigned finds that Petitioner’s claim lacks 23 merit and that the Petition should be dismissed. 24 II. ANALYSIS 25 A. Jurisdiction 26 “Federal courts are always ‘under an independent obligation to examine their own 27 jurisdiction,’ and a federal court may not entertain an action over which it has no 28 appropriate because the Petition should be denied on the merits. 1 jurisdiction.” Hernandez v. Campbell, 204 F.3d 861, 865 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting FW/PBS, 2 Inc. v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 231 (1990)). “Generally, motions to contest the legality 3 of a sentence must be filed under § 2255 in the sentencing court, while petitions that 4 challenge the manner, location, or conditions of a sentence’s execution must be brought 5 pursuant to § 2241 in the custodial court.” Id. at 864. Additionally, the judicial power of 6 this and all federal courts is limited to actual cases or controversies. U.S. Const. art. III; see 7 also Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 94 (1968); Munoz v. Rowland, 104 F.3d 1096, 1097 (9th 8 Cir. 1997). A petition for writ of habeas corpus is moot where a petitioner’s claim for 9 “relief cannot be ‘redressed by a favorable . . . decision’ of the court issuing a writ of habeas 10 corpus.” Burnett v. Lampert, 432 F.3d 996, 1001 (9th Cir. 2005) (quoting Spencer v. 11 Kenna, 523 U.S. 1, 7 (1998)). Therefore, a proper characterization of the petition is 12 necessary to determine jurisdiction. 13 Here, Petitioner alleges that he was denied due process during disciplinary hearing 14 proceedings resulting in loss of privileges and good conduct time. As such, Petitioner is 15 challenging the manner, location, or condition of the execution of his sentence. It is well 16 established that a § 2241 petition is the proper vehicle through which a federal prisoner 17 challenges the manner or execution of a sentence. See, e.g., Hernandez, 204 F.3d at 864; 18 Tucker v. Carlson, 925 F.2d 330, 331 (9th Cir. 1991) (a prisoner’s challenge to the “manner 19 in which his sentence was executed . . . [is] maintainable only in a petition for habeas 20 corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241”). 21 At the time of filing the Petition, Petitioner was incarcerated at USP—Tucson in 22 Arizona, and the Petition challenges the manner in which Petitioner’s sentence was being 23 executed in the District of Arizona. However, Petitioner is presently incarcerated at USP— 24 Allenwood. While “jurisdiction attaches on the initial filing for habeas corpus relief, and it 25 is not destroyed by a transfer of the petitioner and the accompanying custodial change[,]” 26 Francis v. Rison, 894 F.2d 353, 354 (9th Cir. 1990) (citation omitted), “[d]istrict courts are 27 limited to granting habeas relief ‘within their respective jurisdictions.’” Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 28 at 442 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a)).

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Harris v. Blanckensee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-blanckensee-azd-2022.