Brantly Morgan v. Judge Lawrence Chrum

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denies without prejudice Brantly Morgan’s petition for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 and 2254. The court holds that the petition is premature because Morgan’s appeal concerning a state-court protection order remains pending, and he has not exhausted available state remedies. The court also denies Morgan’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis as moot.

Holdings

1. A federal habeas petitioner must exhaust available state remedies before seeking federal habeas relief unless the state corrective process is unavailable or ineffective; because Morgan's state appeal remained pending and he identified no exception, his petition was premature and had to be dismissed without prejudice.
2. The court may dismiss a legally frivolous action at any time under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i), including before ruling on an in forma pauperis motion.
3. The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was denied as moot after the habeas petition was dismissed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Morgan's federal habeas petition was premature because he had not exhausted available state-court remedies while his state appeal remained pending.
2. Whether the court could dismiss the petition as legally frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i).
3. Whether Morgan's motion to proceed in forma pauperis should be denied as moot after dismissal of the petition.

Disposition

dismissed