KATHERINE P. NELSON, Magistrate Judge.
Petitioner Derrick McMillian, an Alabama prisoner proceeding without counsel (pro se), initiated his action by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Doc. 1) dated September 11, 2019, challenging a criminal judgment entered against him in June 2019 on a charge of reckless endangerment by the Municipal Court of the City of Mobile, Alabama (Docket No. C017000705, Case Citation No. CL024871-01).
After conducting preliminary review of the petition in accordance with Rule 4 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, the undersigned ordered that the petition be served on the Respondent for an answer under Rule 5 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, or some other appropriate response. As ordered (see Doc. 3), the Respondent, through the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Alabama, timely filed and served an Answer (Doc. 8) asserting that the petition is due to be dismissed as procedurally defaulted. Having reviewed the petition and the Respondent's Answer, including attached records from the state court proceedings, the undersigned agrees with the Respondent that the petition is due to be dismissed because McMillian has not exhausted his state court remedies prior to filing the present habeas petition. However, the undersigned disagrees that the petition is procedurally barred, since McMillian may still be able to exhaust his claims in state court. Accordingly, the undersigned will recommend that McMillian's habeas petition be
"Before a federal court may grant habeas relief to a state prisoner, the prisoner must exhaust his remedies in state court. In other words, the state prisoner must give the state courts an opportunity to act on his claims before he presents those claims to a federal court in a habeas petition. The exhaustion doctrine, first announced in Ex parte Royall, 117 U.S. 241, 6 S.Ct. 734, 29 S.Ct. 868 (1886), is now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)..." O'Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838, 842 (1999).
The Respondent asserts, based on his search of applicable state court records, that McMillian took no direct appeal of his municipal court conviction.
The Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure provide a defendant convicted in a municipal court "the right to appeal the judgment, within fourteen (14) days of the date of the judgment or the denial of a timely filed post-judgment motion, to the circuit court for a trial de novo." Ala. R. Crim. P. 30.1(a). Such an appeal is taken "by filing with the clerk of the municipal ... court a written notice of appeal within fourteen (14) days from the date of pronouncement of sentence or the date of denial of a timely filed post-trial motion, whichever is later." Ala. R. Crim. P. 30.3(a). Therefore, the time for McMillian to directly appeal his municipal court conviction has expired.
In actions such as this one brought under § 2254, a "district court must issue or deny a certificate of appealability when it enters a final order adverse to the applicant." Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts. "Unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability, an appeal may not be taken to the court of appeals from the final order in a habeas corpus proceeding in which the detention complained of arises out of process issued by a State court." 28 U.S.C.A. § 2253(c)(1)(A).
Where habeas relief is denied on procedural grounds without reaching the merits of the underlying constitutional claim(s), "a COA should issue [only] when the prisoner shows . . . that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right and that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its procedural ruling." Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000). "A prisoner seeking a COA must prove something more than the absence of frivolity or the existence of mere good faith on his or her part." Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 338 (2003) (quotations omitted). However, "a COA does not require a showing that the appeal will succeed." Id. at 337.
Upon consideration, the undersigned finds that McMillian should be
"An appeal may not be taken in forma pauperis if the trial court certifies in writing that it is not taken in good faith." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3). A district court's finding "that an appeal would not be in good faith because no certificate of appealability had been issued . . . is not enough to explain why the appeal on the merits would not be in good faith, because the standard governing the issuance of a certificate of appealability is not the same as the standard for determining whether an appeal is in good faith. It is more demanding . . . [T]o determine that an appeal is in good faith, a court need only find that a reasonable person could suppose that the appeal has some merit." Walker v. O'Brien, 216 F.3d 626, 631-32 (7th Cir. 2000). In other words,
Ghee v. Retailers Nat. Bank, 271 F. App'x 858, 859-60 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (unpublished).
Considering the foregoing analysis, it is clear that McMillian has failed to exhaust his state court remedies prior to bringing the present habeas petition. Accordingly, the undersigned
In accordance with the foregoing analysis, it is
A copy of this report and recommendation shall be served on all parties in the manner provided by law. Any party who objects to this recommendation or anything in it must, within fourteen (14) days of the date of service of this document, file specific written objections with the Clerk of this Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Rule 8(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts; S.D. Ala. GenLR 72(c). The parties should note that under Eleventh Circuit Rule 3-1, "[a] party failing to object to a magistrate judge's findings or recommendations contained in a report and recommendation in accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) waives the right to challenge on appeal the district court's order based on unobjected-to factual and legal conclusions if the party was informed of the time period for objecting and the consequences on appeal for failing to object. In the absence of a proper objection, however, the court may review on appeal for plain error if necessary in the interests of justice." 11th Cir. R. 3-1. In order to be specific, an objection must identify the specific finding or recommendation to which objection is made, state the basis for the objection, and specify the place in the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation where the disputed determination is found. An objection that merely incorporates by reference or refers to the briefing before the Magistrate Judge is not specific.
Should this Court deny a certificate of appealability, the petitioner "may not appeal the denial but may seek a certificate from the court of appeals under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 22." Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts.