Jose A. Rios v. Leslie Cooley Dismukes

Summary

The court dismissed without prejudice Jose A. Rios’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition challenging a prison disciplinary conviction and seeking restoration of forfeited good-time credits. The court held that Rios had exhausted administrative remedies but had not pursued available state judicial remedies, and therefore had not satisfied the federal habeas exhaustion requirement. The court denied his fee application as moot, declined to issue a certificate of appealability, and directed the clerk to close the case.

Holdings

1. A state prisoner challenging a disciplinary conviction that allegedly resulted in the loss of good-time credits must exhaust available state judicial remedies, in addition to state administrative remedies, before seeking federal habeas relief under § 2254.
2. The petition must be dismissed without prejudice because the petitioner failed to pursue judicial post-conviction remedies in state court before filing the federal habeas action.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the § 2254 petition could proceed when the petitioner had exhausted state administrative remedies but had not pursued state judicial remedies concerning the prison disciplinary conviction and loss of good-time credits.
2. Whether the petition should be dismissed without prejudice under Rule 4 for failure to exhaust available state remedies.

Disposition

dismissed