UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

MR. ADOLPHUS DOWNS, :

Civil Action No. 10-3158 (WJM)

Petitioner, :

v. : NOTICE and ORDER

DONALD MEE, et al., :

Respondents. :

You have filed an Application for a writ of habeas corpus

under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. This Court is required by Mason v.

Meyers, 208 F.3d 414 (3d Cir. 2000), to notify you of the

following consequences of filing such an application under the

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) and to

give you an opportunity to file one all-inclusive § 2254

Application.

1. Under the AEDPA, prisoners challenging the legality of

their detention pursuant to the judgment of a State court must

marshal in one § 2254 Application all the arguments they have to

collaterally attack the State judgment and, except in extremely

limited circumstances, file this one all-inclusive Application

within one year of the date on which the judgment of conviction

becomes final by the conclusion of direct review or the

expiration of the time for seeking such review. See 28 U.S.C.

§ 2244(d).

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2. It is not apparent to the Court whether you intend the

Application you filed to be your one all-inclusive § 2254

Application. Therefore, you may now tell the Court how you want

to proceed by choosing one of the following options and notifying

the Clerk of your choice pursuant to the terms of this Notice and

Order.

a. Have your pending § 2254 Application ruled upon as is;

or

b. Withdraw your pending § 2254 Application and file one

all-inclusive § 2254 Application subject to the oneyear statute of limitations.

3. If you choose option (a) above, then you will lose your

ability to file a second or successive Application under § 2254,

absent certification by the Court of Appeals for the Third

Circuit and extraordinary circumstances.

4. If you choose option (b) AND your original Application

was filed within the one-year statute of limitations under 28

U.S.C. § 2244(c), then the statute of limitations will be tolled

from the date you handed your original application to prison

officials for mailing to the Clerk of the Court until 45 days

after entry of this Notice and Order. Under these circumstances,

if your original § 2254 Application was filed within the one-year

limitations period, you will have the 45-day response period plus

any time remaining within your one-year statute of limitations

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period (as of the date you filed your original Application) to

draft and file your one all-inclusive § 2254 Application.

IT IS therefore on this 6th day of July, 2010,

ORDERED that you have 45 days from the entry of this Notice

and Order to file with the Clerk a letter or other written

response signed by you advising the Court how you would like to

proceed; and it is further

ORDERED that, if you do not file a signed response choosing

one of the above options within 45 days of the entry of this

Notice and Order, then the Court will rule on your Application as

it is.

s/William J. Martini

 

 WILLIAM J. MARTINI

United States District Judge

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