FULLER v. RICH

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Docket Number

No. 93-1767. Conference Calendar.

Attorney(S)

Joel Fuller, pro se.

Judges

William Lockhart Garwood
E. Grady Jolly

Acts

Judiciary And Judicial Procedure — Habeas Corpus — Particular Proceedings — Power To Grant Writ

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Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

Joel Fuller, a prisoner, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging a decision by the Parole Commission. The district court dismissed his petition on the grounds that he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies before seeking federal habeas relief. Fuller contended that he was unable to file an administrative appeal because he did not receive timely notice of the Parole Commission’s decision, and thus the deadline to appeal had passed. Fuller appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Legal Issues Presented

Whether Fuller was required to exhaust administrative remedies by filing an appeal with the National Appeals Board before seeking habeas corpus relief in federal court.
Whether Fuller’s failure to timely receive notice of the Parole Commission’s decision excuses his non-exhaustion of administrative remedies.
Whether the district court abused its discretion in dismissing Fuller’s habeas petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
Whether counsel should be appointed for Fuller on appeal.

Arguments of the Parties

Petitioner-Appellant's Arguments

Fuller argued that he could not file an administrative appeal because he did not receive notice of the Parole Commission’s decision until after the deadline for filing an appeal had expired.
He implied that this lack of notice made exhaustion of administrative remedies impossible, justifying an exception to the exhaustion requirement.

Respondents-Appellees' Arguments

The opinion does not contain a detailed account of the respondents’ legal arguments.

Table of Precedents Cited

Precedent	Rule or Principle Cited For	Application by the Court
Smith v. Thompson, 937 F.2d 217 (5th Cir. 1991)	Requirement that prisoner challenging Parole Commission decision must exhaust administrative remedies before habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.	Confirmed the exhaustion requirement applicable to Fuller's petition.
DCP Farms v. Yeutter, 957 F.2d 1183 (5th Cir. 1992)	Standard of review for district court’s dismissal for failure to exhaust is abuse of discretion; exceptions to exhaustion apply only in extraordinary circumstances.	Used to affirm the district court’s dismissal and clarify the narrow scope for exceptions.
Hessbrook v. Lennon, 777 F.2d 999 (5th Cir. 1985)	Exceptions to exhaustion apply when administrative remedies are unavailable, inappropriate, or futile.	Outlined the criteria for exceptions to exhaustion, which Fuller failed to meet.
Gardner v. School Bd. Caddo Parish, 958 F.2d 108 (5th Cir. 1992)	Burden on petitioner to demonstrate futility of administrative review.	Held Fuller bore the burden to show futility and did not meet it.
Talerico v. Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, 391 F. Supp. 193 (M.D. Pa. 1975)	Exhaustion requires presenting claims to the appeals board to give it an opportunity to review.	Supported the requirement that Fuller must file an appeal with the National Appeals Board before seeking federal relief.
Santana v. Chandler, 961 F.2d 514 (5th Cir. 1992)	Standards for appointing counsel on appeal; appointment warranted only in exceptional circumstances.	Applied to deny Fuller’s motion for appointed counsel, finding no exceptional circumstances.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The court emphasized that exhaustion of administrative remedies is a prerequisite for federal habeas corpus relief when challenging a Parole Commission decision. The court acknowledged Fuller's claim that he lacked timely notice of the decision, but held that this did not excuse him from filing an appeal with the National Appeals Board. The exhaustion doctrine requires that the claim be presented to the Board to allow it the opportunity to review the decision, regardless of whether the Board ultimately rules on the merits.

The court noted that exceptions to exhaustion are limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as when administrative remedies are unavailable or futile. Fuller did not demonstrate that filing an appeal would be futile. The National Appeals Board retains discretion to accept late appeals or reject them as untimely, but Fuller must first attempt to exhaust this remedy. Only after a final decision by the Board would Fuller have sufficiently exhausted his administrative remedies.

Accordingly, the court found no abuse of discretion in the district court’s dismissal for failure to exhaust. The court also denied Fuller's request for appointed counsel, finding he was capable of self-representation and that no exceptional circumstances existed.

Holding and Implications

The court AFFIRMED the district court’s dismissal of Joel Fuller's habeas corpus petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

The direct effect of this decision is that Fuller must first file an appeal with the National Appeals Board and obtain a final decision before seeking federal habeas relief. No new legal precedent was established; rather, the court applied established principles governing exhaustion and the limited scope of exceptions. Additionally, the court denied Fuller's motion for appointment of counsel on appeal, reinforcing the standard that counsel is only appointed in exceptional circumstances.

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JOEL FULLER, PETITIONER-APPELLANT, v. JAMES RICH, WARDEN FOR FCI, SEAGOVILLE, TEXAS, ET AL., RESPONDENTS-APPELLEES.

PER CURIAM:

Joel Fuller appeals the district court's dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. According to Fuller, he cannot file an administrative appeal because he did not receive notice of the Parole Commission's decision until the time for filing such an appeal had elapsed. See 28 C.F.R. § 2.26 (1993) (an appeal to the National Appeals Board must be made within 30 days from the date of entry of the decision).

A prisoner challenging a Parole Commission decision is required to exhaust his administrative remedies before seeking habeas relief in federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. See Smith v. Thompson, 937 F.2d 217, 219 (5th Cir. 1991). The district court's dismissal of Fuller's petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies is reviewed for abuse of discretion. DCP Farms v. Yeutter, 957 F.2d 1183, 1188 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 406, 121 L.Ed.2d 331 (1992).

"Exceptions to the exhaustion requirement are appropriate where the available administrative remedies either are unavailable or wholly inappropriate to the relief sought, or where the attempt to exhaust such remedies would itself be a patently futile course of action." Hessbrook v. Lennon, 777 F.2d 999, 1003 (5th Cir. 1985). However, exceptions to the exhaustion requirement apply only in "extraordinary circumstances," Yeutter, 957 F.2d at 1189, and Fuller bears the burden of demonstrating the futility of administrative review. See Gardner v. School Bd. Caddo Parish, 958 F.2d 108, 112 (5th Cir. 1992).

Although the exhaustion doctrine does not require that the National Appeals Board actually rule on the merits of Fuller's claims, it does require that Fuller present the claims to the Board, thereby giving it an opportunity to review the decision reached by the Parole Commission. See Talerico v. Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, 391 F. Supp. 193, 195 (M.D.Pa. 1975). Accordingly, before Fuller may seek relief in federal court, he must file an appeal with the National Appeals Board. We require Fuller to take this further step because until he actually appeals and that appeal is acted on, we do not know what the appeals board will do with Fuller's claim, and until the appeals board has been given an opportunity to act, Fuller has not exhausted his administrative remedies. The National Appeals Board may deny the appeal on the ground that it is untimely under 28 C.F.R. § 2.26, or the Board, in its discretion, may allow Fuller to file the appeal out of time and rule on the merits of Fuller's contentions. Cf. Talerico, 391 F. Supp. at 195. In short, Fuller has not shown that such an appeal would be futile. After a final decision by the Board, Fuller will have exhausted sufficiently his administrative remedies.

We thus hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Fuller's petition for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Fuller's motion for this court to appoint counsel on appeal is DENIED. Fuller has demonstrated that he is capable of representing himself by filing competent pleadings and a brief that succinctly states his issues and argument. Further, the case does not present exceptional circumstances warranting appointment of counsel. See Santana v. Chandler, 961 F.2d 514, 515-16 (5th Cir. 1992).