Opinion
Case No. 16 C 9961
12-28-2016
WALTER J. BRZOWSKI, M292120, Petitioner, v. MICHAEL MELVIN, Warden, Respondent.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This pro se action by Walter Brzowski ("Brzowski"), in which he has sought to invoke 28 U.S.C. § 2254 ("Section 2254") by filing a self-prepared Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus ("Petition"), has inexplicably suffered the consequence of a breakdown in this District Court's computerized record-keeping system. When Brzowski had apparently failed to respond to the motion to dismiss the Petition filed by counsel for respondent Warden Michael Melvin by the December 16 due date that this Court had set for such a response, it ordered a printout of the case docket and received the attached two-page printout dated December 19 (Ex. 1) that reflected the absence of any response by Brzowski. Accordingly this Court issued a December 23 memorandum order that granted defense counsel's motion to dismiss based on Brzowski's asserted failure to exhaust this still-pending state court attacks before turning to the federal courts with a Section 2254 Petition.
To this Court's surprise, its regular review of ECF filings over the ensuing weekend disclosed that on December 12 Brzowski had in fact filed several self-prepared documents respectively captioned "Petitioner's Cogent Response Against Defendant's 'Motion'" (Dkt. No.11), "Plaintiff's Calculation Time-Serving New Breakdown Sheet" (Dkt. No. 12), "Addendum To Support Petition for 'I Bond' Release" (Dkt. No. 13) and "Affidavit to Further Support Petitioner's Need for an Expedited Habeas Corpus Discharge" (Dkt. No. 14). As the also-attached December 27 docket printout (Ex. 2) reflects, this Court's December 23 memorandum order therefore became Dkt. No. 15.
Under the circumstances this Court vacates its December 23 memorandum order dismissing Brzowski's Petition and this action pending further input from defense counsel. This Court orders defense counsel to file a response to Brzowski's most recent filings (Dkt. Nos. 11 through 14) on or before January 20, 2017, after which this Court can determine the appropriate course of action to follow.
/s/
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge Date: December 28, 2016
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