Opinion
No. 3:19-cv-77-DPM
04-23-2019
WILLIE WELLS #31968009 PLAINTIFF v. PAUL GREGORY, Detective, West Memphis Police Department DEFENDANT
ORDER
1. Motion to proceed in forma pauperis, No 1, granted. Wells must pay the filing fee, but over time. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). The Court assesses an initial partial filing fee of $36.91. After the initial fee is collected, Wells's custodian must collect monthly payments from Wells's prison trust account each time the amount in the account exceeds $10.00. These payments will be equal to twenty percent of the preceding month's income credited to the account; and they will be collected and forwarded to the Clerk of the Court until the $350.00 filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). The payments forwarded on Wells's behalf must be clearly identified by case name and case number.
2. The Court directs the Clerk to send a copy of this order to the Administrator of the West Tennessee Detention Center, P.O. Box 509, Mason, Tennessee 38049.
3. The Court must screen Wells's complaint. No 2; 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Wells says the car in which he was a passenger was unlawfully stopped and that he was unlawfully arrested. He claims the drugs and gun found in a black bag tossed from the car window weren't his. No 2. Wells was charged with two counts of possession with intent to distribute and two gun-related charges. United States v. Wells, E.D. Ark. No 4:18-cv-235-KGB. Because those criminal charges against him are pending, Wells's civil case will be stayed until the criminal charges have been resolved. See Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384, 393-94 (2007).
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This case is stayed. Wells can move to reopen this case after final disposition of his criminal case, including any appeal. Any motion to reopen must be filed within sixty days of that final disposition. If Wells doesn't file a timely motion to reopen or a status report by 16 April 2020, then the Court will reopen this case and dismiss it without prejudice.
So Ordered.
/s/_________
D.P. Marshall Jr.
United States District Judge
23 April 2019