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In re Bell

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Jul 25, 2023
No. 23-1504 (4th Cir. Jul. 25, 2023)

Opinion

23-1504

07-25-2023

In re: KENT BELL, Petitioner.

Kent Bell, Petitioner Pro Se.


UNPUBLISHED

Submitted: July 20, 2023

On Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. (1:21-cv-00107-GLR)

Kent Bell, Petitioner Pro Se.

Before NIEMEYER and THACKER, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM.

Kent Bell petitions for a writ of mandamus seeking relief from several alleged errors that occurred in his state criminal proceeding. We conclude that Bell is not entitled to mandamus relief.

Mandamus relief is a drastic remedy and should be used only in extraordinary circumstances. Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 542 U.S. 367, 380 (2004); In re Murphy-Brown, LLC, 907 F.3d 788, 795 (4th Cir. 2018). Further, mandamus relief is available only when the petitioner has a clear right to the relief sought and "has no other adequate means to attain the relief [he] desires." Murphy-Brown, 907 F.3d at 795 (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). This court does not have jurisdiction to grant mandamus relief against state officials, Gurley v. Superior Ct. of Mecklenburg Cnty., 411 F.2d 586, 587 (4th Cir. 1969), and does not have jurisdiction to review final state court orders, D.C. Ct. of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 482 (1983).

The relief sought by Bell is not available by way of mandamus. Accordingly, we deny the petition for writ of mandamus. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

PETITION DENIED.


Summaries of

In re Bell

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Jul 25, 2023
No. 23-1504 (4th Cir. Jul. 25, 2023)
Case details for

In re Bell

Case Details

Full title:In re: KENT BELL, Petitioner.

Court:United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Date published: Jul 25, 2023

Citations

No. 23-1504 (4th Cir. Jul. 25, 2023)