Riggleman v. West Virginia Department of Corrections , 174 F. App'x 168 ( 2006 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-7660
ELISHA RIGGLEMAN,
Petitioner - Appellant,
versus
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, at Elkins. Robert E. Maxwell, Senior
District Judge. (CA-04-80-2-REM)
Submitted: March 20, 2006 Decided: April 5, 2006
Before MOTZ and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Elisha Riggleman, Appellant Pro Se. Dawn Ellen Warfield, OFFICE OF
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WEST VIRGINIA, Charleston, West Virginia,
for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Elisha Riggleman filed a motion in the district
court using the form for filing a motion for authorization under 28
U.S.C. § 2244 (2000) to file a second or successive 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254 (2000) petition. The district court first construed the
motion as a § 2254 petition and referred it to a magistrate judge,
who recommended the filing be construed as a motion under § 2244
seeking authorization to file a second or successive § 2254
petition because Riggleman did not state any grounds for relief.
The magistrate judge further recommended that the § 2244 motion be
denied because Riggleman’s first § 2254 petition was dismissed as
premature and Riggleman therefore did not need authorization to
file a successive § 2254 petition. After receiving Riggleman’s
objections, the district court adopted the magistrate judge’s
recommendations, construed the filing as a § 2244 motion and denied
the motion for authorization. Riggleman filed a notice of appeal.
Because courts must liberally construe pro se filings, we
find Riggleman’s filing should have been construed as a § 2254
petition. Noble v. Barnett, 24 F.3d 582, 587 n.6 (4th Cir. 1994).
Because Riggleman did not use the proper form, there was no section
to state the asserted grounds for relief. However, in his filing,
Riggleman referred to the attached state court petition for appeal
in response to the question regarding the state court grounds for
relief. It appears from his objections to the magistrate judge’s
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report and recommendation that he referred the court to the grounds
asserted in his state court habeas corpus proceeding. We think the
better course of action would have been to construe the filing as
a § 2254 petition.1
Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s order and
remand with instructions that Riggleman’s filing be construed as a
§ 2254 petition. The court may decide to provide Riggleman with
the form for filing § 2254 petitions. If Riggleman submits the
form, it should be construed as an amended § 2254 petition and,
insofar as the grounds for relief relate back to the grounds raised
in the state petition he attached to his original filing, the
petition should be considered filed for purposes of the one year
limitations rule in § 2254 proceedings as of the filing date of the
original § 2254 petition.2 See Mayle v. Felix, 125 S. Ct. 2562,
2570-71 (2005). We dispense with oral argument because the facts
and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials
before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
VACATED AND REMANDED
1
Even if the district court correctly construed the filing as
a § 2244 motion, it should have been transferred to this court. A
motion seeking authorization should be filed in the court of
appeals. The motion “shall be determined by a three-judge panel of
the court of appeals.” § 2244(b)(3)(B). Thus, the district court
was without jurisdiction to consider a § 2244 motion for
authorization.
2
We have no opinion as to the timeliness or merits of the
§ 2254 petition.
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