Opinion
Civil Action 22-4865
06-12-2024
CHAZ C. JORDAN v. COMMONWEALTH, et al.
ORDER
Gerald Austin McHugh United States District Judge
This 12th day of June, 2024, upon consideration of the petition for writ of habeas corpus, and after careful review of the Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski, it is hereby ORDERED as follows:
1. The Report and Recommendation (ECF 37) is APPROVED and ADOPTED.
2. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus (ECF 22) is DISMISSED as untimely.
3. Petitioner's motion to appoint counsel (ECF 43) is DENIED as moot.
4. Because Petitioner has not shown denial of a federal constitutional right, nor established that reasonable jurists would disagree with this court's procedural disposition of his claims, a certificate of appealability is DENIED.
Petitioner pled nolo contendere in Pennsylvania state court in 2018 to charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, trafficking in minors, and involuntary servitude. After multiple rounds of deficient filings and extensions, Petitioner filed a 2254 habeas petition in this court on June 30, 2023. The Commonwealth responded, and on February 9, 2024, Magistrate Judge Sitarski recommended dismissal of the petition as untimely. Several days later, the Court received a request from Petitioner for an extension to reply to the Commonwealth, dated and mailed before Judge Sitarski issued her Report & Recommendation. I therefore directed Petitioner to “combine his response to the Commonwealth with any objections he has to the Report and Recommendation” on or before May 24, 2024. ECF 41. I also warned that any objections not submitted with this response would be deemed waived. Id. Petitioner did not comply with this instruction, and instead filed a “petition for a certificate of appealability” on May 22, as well as a motion to appoint counsel on May 28. Although the petition for a certificate of appealability includes Petitioner's reply to the Commonwealth, it contains no objections to the Report & Recommendation nor does it address the Report's conclusion as to untimeliness.
The Clerk of Court is requested to mark this case closed.