Opinion
Case No. 1:13-cv-479
07-17-2014
JEFFREY A. WOODS, Petitioner, v. JASON BUNTING, WARDEN, Marion Correctional Institution, Respondent.
Chief Judge Susan J. Dlott
Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz
TRANSFER ORDER
This habeas corpus case was brought pro se by Petitioner Jeffrey Woods relating to his conviction in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in that court's case number B852988 (Petition, Doc. No. 6, ¶ 1(b), PageID 40). Woods avers he was sentenced on August 7, 1986. Id. at ¶ 2(b). Other than direct appeal, he avers he filed an original petition for writ of habeas corpus under Ohio Revised Code § 2725.05 in the Supreme Court of Ohio on February 18, 2010, on grounds the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at ¶ 11(a), PageID 42. He also avers he filed a declaratory judgment proceeding in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas under Ohio Revised Code § 5145.01 on the ;length of his sentence which was still pending when he filed the Petition on June 13, 2013. Id. at ¶ 11(b), PageID 43.
Woods alleges he is "not in state custody," but "in involuntary servitude through a legal process where the petitioner was not duly convicted of a crime inviolation [sic] of the petitioner['s] united states constitutional rights amendments 13, 14." Id. at ¶ 12(a). Woods explains that in the referenced Hamilton County Common Pleas case, he was sentenced to 10-25 years which he alleges expired August 7, 2010. He avers he is still incarcerated because the Ohio Parole Board "used a legal process to imposed [sic] a new sentence upon the petitioner to make him believe his sentence is a continued sentence when the record show[s] the petitioner['s] imposed sentence was completed on August 7, 2010." Id. at PageID 55.
In response to Judge Bowman's Order to Show Cause (Doc. No. 5), Respondent admits he has custody of Woods under the judgment Woods references in Hamilton County Case No. B-852988, but also pursuant to judgments of the same court in Case Nos. B-842032 and B-842819 (Answer/Return of Writ, Doc. No. 9, PageID 61.) In each of those cases Woods pled guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and was sentenced to concurrent terms of five to twenty-five years. Id. at PageID 62. Although he was granted shock probation in July 1985, Woods committed new crimes (rape, attempted rape, aggravated robbery, and robbery). Upon conviction he was sentenced to terms of ten to twenty-five years on the rape charges and five to fifteen years on the robbery charges, all to be served concurrently. The trial judge then revoked the shock probation in B-842819, imposed a sentence of ten to twenty-five years, and ordered that it be served consecutively to the sentences imposed in the 1986 cases. Id.
The Return of Writ shows Woods filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in this Court in Case No. C-1-01-561 challenging the 1986 conviction in Case No. B-852988. Judge Beckwith dismissed the case with prejudice and the Sixth Circuit denied a certificate of appealability (Doc. Nos. 19, 29 in 01-561). The Sixth Circuit later denied Woods permission to file a second habeas corpus petition. In re: Jeffrey A. Woods, 6th Cir. Case No. 04-3988 (Mar. 23, 2005)(unreported, copy at Doc. No. 32 in 01-561). In 2011, the Sixth Circuit denied another such request. In re: Jeffrey A. Woods, 6th Cir. Case No. 10-4385 (Aug. 10, 2011)(unreported, copy at Return of Writ, Doc. No. 9-1, PageID 179).
These filings precede adoption of the Court's electronic filing system and are not available electronically.
Analysis
In the Return of Writ, Respondent notes that 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A) requires a habeas petitioner to obtain permission of the court of appeals before filing a second or successive habeas petition. The instant petition attacks the same judgment attacked in Woods' prior case and is therefore a second or successive petition within the meaning of § 2244(B)(3). Faced with the Warden's claim that he had not obtained the required permission from the Sixth Circuit, Woods made no response in his Reply on that point. This Court has no jurisdiction to proceed on a second or successive petition without permission of the Court of Appeals.
Accordingly, pursuant to In re Sims, 111 F.3d 45 (6th Cir. 1997), the Clerk is ORDERED to transfer this case to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for its consideration of whether to allow Woods to file the instant Petition. __________
Michael K. Merz