U.S. v. Crawford

Full title: United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Tommie Perris Crawford, Defendant

Court: United States District Court, D. Minnesota

Date published: Apr 21, 2009

Crim. No. 05-294 (JRT/AJB) (D. Minn. Apr. 21, 2009)

Opinion

Crim. No. 05-294 (JRT/AJB).

April 21, 2009

ORDER

JOHN TUNHEIM, District Judge

This matter is before the Court pursuant to Defendant's most recent post-conviction submissions in this matter. (Docket Nos. 223, 224, 225, 226, 227 and 229.) None of Defendant's pending submissions presents any viable grounds for granting him any relief in this matter. Indeed, the Court finds all of Defendant's pending submissions to be frivolous, because they lack any "arguable basis either in law or in fact." Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). Therefore, all of Defendant's pending requests for relief will be summarily rejected and denied.

Defendant has now filed well over 100 pro se submissions in this case, including more than two dozen since his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on direct appeal. Furthermore, Defendant's submissions have become increasingly incomprehensible, redundant and abusive.

Prisoners do, of course, have a right of access to the courts. That right, however, does not guaranty prisoners, (or anyone else), an unrestricted opportunity to file frivolous, malicious or abusive documents. See In re Tyler, 839 F.2d 1290, 1292 (8^th Cir. 1988) ("there is `no constitutional right of access to the courts to prosecute an action that is frivolous or malicious'"), (quoting Phillips v. Carey, 638 F.2d 207, 208 (10th Cir.), cert.denied, 450 U.S. 985 (1981)). "Frivolous, bad faith claims consume a significant amount of judicial resources, diverting the time and energy of the judiciary away from processing good faith claims." Tyler, 839 F.2d at 1292. Such "excessive litigation" imposes "unnecessary burdens on, and the useless consumption of, court resources." Id. A federal court "has authority to control and manage matters pending before it," and "may, in its discretion, place reasonable restrictions on any litigant who files non-meritorious actions for obviously malicious purposes and who generally abuses judicial process." Id. at 1292, 1293.

In light of Defendant's extensive record of frivolous filings in this matter, the Court finds that it is now necessary and appropriate to protect the District Court and its staff from any further abusive submissions by Defendant. Therefore, any written materials hereafter received from Defendant shall be presented to the Court without being filed. The Clerk of Court shall not file, or respond to, any future submissions from Defendant, except as directed by the Court.

Based upon the foregoing, and all of the files, records and proceedings herein,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

1. All of Defendant's pending requests for relief in this matter, (Docket Nos. 223, 224, 225, 226, 227 and 229), are DENIED.

2. The Clerk of Court shall not file, or respond to, anything received from Tommie Perris Crawford, except as expressly directed by the Court.