Opinion
4:21-CV-148-DMB-JMV
12-22-2021
BOBBY ALLRED PETITIONER v. TIMOTHY MORRIS RESPONDENT
ORDER
DEBRA M. BROWN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
On or about August 5, 2021, Bobby Allred filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his convictions in the Circuit Court of Union County, Mississippi, for three counts of sexual battery. Doc. #1 at 1; Doc. #1-1 at 18. The case was transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi on November 5, 2021. Doc. #5
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act requires that before a second or successive petition is filed in the district court, “the applicant shall move in the appropriate court of appeals for an order authorizing the district court to consider the application.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Section “2244(b)(3)(A) acts as a jurisdictional bar to the district court's asserting jurisdiction over any successive habeas petition until [the Fifth Circuit] has granted the petitioner permission to file one.” Crone v. Cockrell, 324 F.3d 833, 836 (5th Cir. 2003). While “a district court may dispose of applications lacking authorization through dismissal” for lack of jurisdiction, it may, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631, transfer such a petition to the Fifth Circuit, the court with jurisdiction over the action, “upon a finding that the petition is successive.” United States v. Fulton, 780 F.3d 683, 686 (5th Cir. 2015).
Allred has filed at least one unsuccessful § 2254 petition challenging the same convictions he challenges here. See Allred v. Flagg, No. 3:19-cv-12, 2019 WL 2411432 (N.D. Miss. June 7, 2019). However, Allred has not obtained an order of authorization to pursue this successive petition. In the interest of justice and judicial economy, the Clerk of the Court shall TRANSFER Allred's petition and the entire record of this case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 2244(a) & (b)(3)(c), and 28 U.S.C. § 1631. This case is CLOSED.
SO ORDERED.