James K. Singleton, Jr.
Judge Singleton no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Singleton decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a state prisoner's coerced-confession and Miranda claims, defers heavily to the state trial judge's credibility findings between the defendant's account and the interrogating officers', treating that deference as close to dispositive under AEDPA.
“This court will defer to the trial judge's findings of fact and overturn them only if they are clearly erroneous.”
Treats a claim of prosecutorial misconduct as curable, not automatically prejudicial, where the trial court promptly admonished the prosecutor and defense counsel had the chance to correct the record before the jury deliberated.
“Although defendant asserts that the misconduct rose to the level of federal constitutional error, he does not even try to show the "pattern of conduct" required under the federal standard ... defendant did not suffer prejudice under any standard.”
Procedural preferences
A pro se litigant's own mistaken belief about when a filing deadline runs is not, by itself, grounds for equitable tolling of the one-year federal habeas limitations period, even when the miss is small.
“a mistaken belief regarding the filing deadline of a federal habeas petition is not a ground for equitable tolling that would preserve the timeliness of a late-filed petition.”
Reads a post-judgment Rule 60(b) motion in a habeas case skeptically once it starts to look like an attempt to relitigate the merits under new evidence, treating that as a disguised (and procedurally barred) successive petition rather than a true challenge to the fairness of the earlier proceeding.
“a motion that does not attack 'the integrity of the proceedings, but in effect asks for a second chance to have the merits determined favorably' raises a claim that takes it outside the bounds of Rule 60(b) and within the scope of AEDPA's limitations on second or successive habeas corpus petitions.”
Cautions
Routinely denies appointment of counsel in habeas cases without prejudice at the screening stage, reserving it for cases where discovery or an evidentiary hearing is later ordered.
“there is no constitutional right to counsel in federal habeas proceedings ... [a]ppointment of counsel is not required in a habeas corpus proceeding in the absence of an order granting discovery or an evidentiary hearing.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Petition is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE for untimeliness.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT the Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT the Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED.”
“Respondent's motion at Docket No. 7 is GRANTED.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED THAT the Petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is DENIED.”
“the Dispositive Motion filed by plaintiff James Anthony Morris at docket 61 is DENIED”
“the motions of defendants Dr. M. Penner, Rick Manuel, and Linda L. Rianda at dockets 67, 70, and 74, respectively, are GRANTED”
“the motions for summary judgment filed by Dr. Douglas C. Peterson at Docket No. 87 and Cheryl Pliler at Docket No. 88, are GRANTED.”
“the Application to Proceed Without Prepayment of Fees at Docket No. 51 is DENIED as moot.”
“the Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED”
“the Motion for an Oral Hearing at Docket No. 12 is DENIED”
“the Motion for the Appointment of Counsel at Docket No. 13 is DENIED”
“the motion for reconsideration at Docket No. 16 is DENIED.”
“Any Rule 59 motion would therefore be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 44 days (N = 9).
Singleton's final active docket was dominated by state-prisoner habeas petitions, with smaller groups of civil-rights and federal sentence-challenge cases. His earlier service included the broader civil and criminal work of an Alaska district judge.
A historical record
Judge Singleton no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.