Gary Lynn McDuff v. United States
I am respectfully petitioning for a writ of certiorari directed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals below (Case No.21-40073), in which I am the pro se petitioner.
The primary questions raised in this petition are as follows:
1. Is it a structural error and a violation of the Constitution for a district court clerk to verify receipt of exhibits submitted in support of a §2255 habeas petition, yet fail to record them, ultimately leading to the destruction of said exhibits before the district court magistrate judge and district court judge could consider them?
2. Can a district court magistrate make findings of fact and conclusions of law for a report and recommendation, based on an incomplete record caused by the district court clerk's failure to file the exhibits delivered by the habeas petitioner for filing?
3. Was it an error for the district court to deny the petitioner's motion to correct the record, considering the incompleteness caused by the district court clerk's destruction of the exhibits before recording them?
4. Can a court of appeals make a fundamentally fair merits determination on a §2255 habeas petition, relying on an incomplete record sent by a district court that denied the petitioner's motion to correct the record, which was made incomplete due to the district court clerk's actions?
5. Was it an error for the court of appeals to deny the appellant's motion to correct the incomplete record before making a merits decision?
6. Can any court make a fundamentally fair decision on a §2255 habeas corpus petition, rehearing, or reconsideration, without the complete record containing the petitioner's pleadings and evidence that were properly presented to the court for filing, but the clerk failed to file into the record?
Is it a structural error and a violation of the Constitution for a district court clerk to verify receipt of exhibits submitted in support of a §2255 habeas petition, yet fail to record them, ultimately leading to the destruction of said exhibits before the district court magistrate judge and district court judge could consider them?