Pruitt (ID 2000085849) v. Geither

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS
HOWARD RAY PRUITT,
Petitioner,
v. 	CASE NO. 26-3058-JWL
STATE OF KANSAS 1 ,
Respondent.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254
by Petitioner Howard Ray Pruitt, a state prisoner currently incarcerated at Lansing Correctional
Facility in Lansing, Kansas. With his petition, Petitioner also filed a motion for leave to file
additional pages as part of the required, court-approved form in order to set out Grounds V through
VIII of this matter. (Doc. 2.) The Court appreciates Petitioner’s efforts to comply with all of the
rules applicable to federal habeas proceedings. A review of the docket, however, shows that the
Clerk has filed the pages in question as part of the petition. (See Doc. 1.) Therefore, the motion
will be denied as moot.
Petitioner also has filed a motion seeking a stay of this matter while he pursues state-court
remedies on currently unexhausted grounds for federal habeas relief. (Doc. 3.) The Court will defer
ruling on that motion until Petitioner complies with the notice of deficiency (Doc. 5) which has
1 Petitioner has named the State of Kansas as Respondent in this action, but the proper respondent in a federal habeas
action by a state prisoner is the person who has custody over the petitioner. See Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426,
443 (2004) (“[I]n habeas challenges to present physical confinement . . . the default rule is that the proper respondent
is the warden of the facility where the prisoner is being held.”). Thus, Gloria Geither, the current interim warden of
Lansing Correctional Facility, where Petitioner is confined, is hereby substituted as Respondent pursuant to Rule 2(a)
of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
25(d) and 81(a)(4).
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been mailed to Plaintiff today.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Gloria Geither, Interim Warden of Lansing
Correctional Facility, where Petitioner is confined, is substituted as Respondent in this matter.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the motion for permission to include additional pages
(Doc. 2) is denied as moot because the clerk filed the additional pages as part of the petition when
this matter was docketed. (See Doc. 1.) The Court defers ruling on the motion to stay (Doc. 3) until
Petitioner complies with the notice of deficiency (Doc. 5) issued earlier this day.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: 	This 23rd day of March, 2026, at Kansas City, Kansas.
S/ John W. Lungstrum
JOHN W. LUNGSTRUM
United States District Judge
Case 5:26-cv-03058-JWL Document 6 Filed 03/23/26 Page 2 of 2