LaClaire v. Warden SD Darin Young et al

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA
WESTERN DIVISION
SEP 0 G 2022
WILL C.LACLAIRE, 5:22-CV-05073-CBK
Petitioner,
vs.
DARIN YOUNG, Warden, South Dakota
State Penitentiary, ROBERT DOOLEY,
Warden, Mike Durfee State Prison, and
MARK VARGO,Attorney General ofthe
State of South Dakota,
OPINION AND ORDER
DISMISSING PETITION FOR
WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
Respondents.
Petitioner was convicted in South Dakota Circuit Court, Seventh Judicial Circuit,
Pennington County, of two counts of second-degree rape, simple assault, and DUE
51CRI18-001350. He was sentenced on March 27, 2019, to concurrent terms of 25 years
imprisonment on the rape counts, time served on the simple assault count, and one year
imprisonment on the DUI count, to be served consecutively to the rape sentences. He
appealed his convictions and sentences and the South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed
August 30, 2022. State v. LaClaire, 963 N.W.2d 571 (S.D. 2021). Petitioner has now
filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996("AEDPA")requires
petitioner to exhaust available state court remedies prior to seeking federal habeas corpus.
28 U.S.C.§ 2254(b)(1)(A), Sasser v. Hobbs, 735 F.3d 833, 842(8th Cir. 2013). "The
exhaustion requirement has as its purpose giving state courts 'the first opportunity to
review federal constitutional issues and to correct federal constitutional errors made by
the state's trial courts.'" Smittie v. Lockhart, 843 F.2d 295, 296-97 (8th Cir. 1988). A
state court habeas remedy is available to petitioner pursuant to SDCL 21-27-1.
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It plainly appears from the petition as well as from the records ofthe South Dakota
Unified Judicial System, of which I take judicial notice, that petitioner filed a state court
habeas action on the same date he filed the instant federal petition. 51CIV22-000919.
That petition is still pending.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C.§ 2254(b), the petition must be dismissed without prejudice
to allow petitioner an opportunity to exhaust his state court remedies.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is dismissed without
prejudice for failure to exhaust state court habeas remedies.
DATED this ((J "gay of September, 2022.
BY THE COURT:
CHARLES B. KORNMANN
United States District Judge
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