Opinion
Civil Action 21-3289 (UNA)
01-04-2022
RUSSELL K. HILL, Petitioner, v. NANCY PELOSI, Respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
TANYA S. CHUTKAN United States District Judge
This matter is before the Court on consideration of Russell K. Hill's application to proceed in forma pauperis and pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner is a Mississippi prisoner who currently is incarcerated at the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Generally, petitioner challenges his criminal convictions and sentence, and demands his release from custody.
A habeas action is subject to jurisdictional and statutory limitations. See Braden v. 30th Judicial Cir. Ct. of Ky., 410 U.S. 484 (1973). The proper respondent in a habeas corpus action is petitioner's custodian, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 434-35 (2004), who ordinarily is the warden of the facility where a petitioner is housed, see Chatman-Bey v. Thornburgh, 864 F.2d 804, 811 (D.C. Cir. 1988). And this “district court may not entertain a habeas petition involving present physical custody unless the respondent custodian is within its territorial jurisdiction.” Stokes v. U.S. Parole Comm'n, 374 F.3d 1235, 1239 (D.C. Cir. 2004). The petition neither names petitioner's custodian as a respondent, nor demonstrates that the proper respondent is in the District of Columbia.
The Court will grant petitioner's application to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss his petition without prejudice for want of jurisdiction. A separate order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.