Thomas v. Royce

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 30, 2023
Docket1:19-cv-06781-MKV
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Thomas v. Royce, (S.D.N.Y. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT E DL OE CC #T :R ONIC ALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DATE FILED: 3/30/2 023 WARREN THOMAS, Petitioner, 1:19-cv-6781 (MKV) -against- OPINION AND ORDER DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE PETITION MARK ROYCE, FOR A WRIT OF H ABEAS CORPUS Respondent. MARY KAY VYSKOCIL, United States District Judge: Warren Thomas, proceeding pro se, petitions for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his conviction in the New York Supreme Court, Bronx County Court, in which a jury found him guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. For the reasons stated herein, the petition is denied without prejudice. BACKGROUND The petition is wholly devoid of any information explaining the facts giving rise to petitioner’s conviction or the reason he contends relief is warranted. Therefore, the Court takes judicial notice of Petitioner’s underlying criminal case for purposes of the factual background underlying the Petition. See Fed. R. Evid. 201; Scherer v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc’y, 347 F.3d 394, 402 (2d Cir. 2003) (“[A] court may take judicial notice of state court records.”). On December 6, 2006, officers received an alert that shots had been fired near Tremont Avenue and Mount Hope Place in the Bronx, New York. People v. Thomas, 866 N.Y.S.2d 94,

2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3658, at *3-4 (Bronx Sup. Ct. June 26, 2008). Twenty minutes after the alert, Sergeant Brendan Rafter drove to the area to “see if he could find anyone associated” with the shots. Id. He spotted Petitioner Warren Thomas walking towards his vehicle and, when Thomas passed Sergeant Rafter, his “eyes widened.” Id. Sergeant Rafter rolled his window down and said “Sir, police, can I talk to you for a second?” Id. at *4. When Thomas began to fidget behind a minivan on the street, Sergeant Rafter opened his door and said either “Sir, police, hang on for a second” or “[s]top, police.” Id. Thomas then exclaimed “[p]lease, no” and began to run. Id. at *5. As Sergeant Rafter stepped out onto the sidewalk “he observed [Thomas] pull a pistol

out of his pocket area . . . and throw it in the air, back over his head.” Id. Thomas next “pulled a magazine out” and a few steps later “a handful of bullets,” both of which he threw away from him. Id. Thomas was apprehended and arrested. Id. At some point, Thomas may have incurred an injury to his eye, though it is unclear if the injury was preexisting. Id. at *6 & n.3. He was taken to the hospital where he was examined. See id. at *6. Following a jury trial in the Bronx Supreme Court, Thomas was found guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and sentenced to twenty years to life. [ECF No. 1] (“Pet.”) at 1. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Thomas filed this habeas petition on July 19, 2019. [ECF No. 1]. The case was assigned

to Judge McMahon, who directed Thomas to supply more information establishing the timeliness of his petition. [ECF No. 5]. When he failed to do so, Judge McMahon dismissed the petition. [ECF No. 6]. After Thomas requested an extension to respond to the order [ECF No. 8], which was granted [ECF No. 9], he filed a letter establishing the timeliness of his petition. [ECF No. 13]. In June 2020, the case was reassigned to this Court, which issued an order construing the petition as “raising the grounds perfected in Petitioner’s direct appeal” and ordering Respondent to answer the petition [ECF No. 18], which Respondent did. [ECF No. 21]. DISCUSSION A state prisoner seeking habeas corpus relief under Section 2254 must submit a petition that conforms to the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases. Rule 2(c) of those rules requires a petition to specify all of the petitioner’s available grounds for relief, setting forth the facts

supporting each ground, and stating the relief requested. A petition must permit the Court and the respondent to comprehend both the petitioner’s grounds for relief and the underlying facts and legal theory supporting each ground so that the issues presented in the petition may be adjudicated. The present Petition does not conform to the requirements of Rule 2(c) because it fails to specify any facts supporting Petitioner’s grounds for relief, and indeed contains almost no information at all. The Court is obliged to construe pro se pleadings liberally and interpret them “to raise the strongest arguments they suggest.” Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 474-75 (2d Cir. 2006) (citations omitted). However, a pro se litigant is not exempt “from compliance with relevant rules of procedural and substantive law.” Traguth v. Zuck, 710 F.2d

90, 95 (2d Cir. 1983). The Court previously construed Petitioner’s application as “raising the grounds perfected in Petitioner’s direct appeal and raised in his motion to vacate his judgment under N.Y. C.P.L. § 440.10.” [ECF No. 18]. Petitioner states in his Petition that his direct appeal raised the following grounds: “illegal search and seizure, no probable cause for stop, prosecution misconduct and hearing court abused its discretion in not hearing all the facts, also my rights to confrontation, and statements.” Petition at 3-4. Petitioner states that the grounds raised in his New York Criminal Procedure Law Section 440 motion to vacate the judgment were “ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecution’s misconduct, rights to confrontation, and tampering with witnesses, and statements, Brady material, illegal search and seizure, and no probable cause for illegal stop.” Petition at 4. In his reply in further support of the Petition, Petitioner asserts that, “[t]o be precise,” he is arguing “that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective by failing to object to the

People’s expert Doctor” and that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the state trial court did not suppress evidence of his possession of a firearm. [ECF No. 24] (“Reply”) at 8, 10. The Court will briefly address the two points Petitioner specifically raises in his reply, but will not address any other possible ground perfected in his direct appeal or motion to vacate because the Court is uncertain which of those grounds, if any, Petitioner intends to pursue, and what facts, if any, he contends support a ground for relief here. However, the Court grants Petitioner leave to file an amended petition that conforms to the requirements of Rule 2(c) and addresses any additional basis for relief. A. Insufficient Information Exists to Review Petitioner’s Sixth Amendment Claim Petitioner contends that “his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective by failing to

object to the People’s expert Doctor, who did not examine or treat Petitioner’s eye injury.” Reply at 8. Accordingly, Petitioner believes that because “the jury did not hear evidence from the actual medical Doctor,” the failure resulted in a “substantial and injurious influence in determining the jury verdict,” which, but for the failure, “would have been [d]ifferent.” Reply at 8-9. The Court must “refuse to review” a claim that has been denied by a state court on proper procedural grounds, “[a]ssuming that the independent state procedural bar is adequate to support the judgment and not excused by a showing of either cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice.” Jimenez v. Walker, 458 F.3d 130, 145 & n.18 (2d Cir. 2006) (citing

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Thomas v. Royce, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-royce-nysd-2023.