Opinion
Civil Action No. 08 1492.
August 20, 2008
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus and his application to proceed in forma pauperis. The Court will grant the application to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.
Petitioner challenges his conviction entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina following a plea of guilty. He claims that "the district court ignored colorable actual innocence claims." Pet. at 5. Such claims must be presented to the sentencing court by motion filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. See Ojo v. Immigration Naturalization Service, 106 F.3d 680, 683 (5th Cir. 1997) (the sentencing court is the only court with jurisdiction to hear defendant's complaint regarding errors that occurred before or during sentencing).
Petitioner states that he filed a petition in the sentencing court under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Pet. at 3, but that provision applies to state court judgments.
An individual may be excused from pursuing relief under § 2255 only when it "appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention." 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Petitioner has made no such showing here. The Court therefore will dismiss the case by separate Order issued contemporaneously with this Memorandum Opinion.