FILED
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JAN 27 2009
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Clerk, U.S. District and
Bankruptcy Courts
Jason Earl Jones, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
v. )
)
Civil Action No. on 0146
Henry Paulson, )
)
Respondent. )
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This action, brought pro se by a prisoner at the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano,
California, is before the Court on its initial review of the petition for a writ of mandamus. I
Petitioner seeks to compel the Secretary of the Treasury
to direct the United States Secret Service to respond to Kern Valley State
Prison and enforce the lien/foreign securities ofthe sovereign state family
of [petitioner] and further discharge its responsibility to protect
sovereign/ambassador [petitioner,] demanding the immediate release of
[petitioner] and his personal property from custody.
Pet. at 2. The extraordinary remedy of a writ of mandamus is available to compel an "officer or
employee of the United States or any agency thereof to perform a duty owed to plaintiff." 28
U.S.C. § 1361. The petitioner bears a heavy burden of showing that his right to a writ of
I The petition is accompanied by petitioner's application to proceed in forma pauperis
("IFP"), in which he states that he is not incarcerated (Question 1). This is belied, however, by
the address of record. Because the case will be dismissed on the merits, the Court will not
prolong matters by compelling petitioner's compliance with the filing fee requirements of the
Prison Litigation Reform Act, see 28 U.S.C. § 1915, by providing a six-month statement of his
inmate trust fund account. Petitioner is warned nonetheless that by signing the IFP application
and affidavit, he has attested to the truthfulness of the information contained therein. His
untruthful statement is itself a ground for dismissal of the case.
(tJ( 3
mandamus is "clear and indisputable." In re Cheney, 406 F.3d 723, 729 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (citation
omitted). Mandamus relief is not appropriate when another adequate remedy is available. LoBue
v. Christopher, 82 F.3d 1081, 1082-84 (D.C. Cir. 1996). Notwithstanding petitioner's alleged
grandeur, he ultimately seeks his release from custody. His remedy therefore lies in a writ of
habeas corpus directed at his immediate custodian in California. See Chatman-Bey v.
Thornburgh, 864 F.2d 804, 806 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (where "habeas is an available and potentially
efficacious remedy, it is clear beyond reasonable dispute that mandamus will not appropriately
lie."); Rooney v. Secretary of Army, 405 F.3d 1029, 1032 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (habeas 'Jurisdiction
is proper only in the district in which the immediate, not the ultimate, custodian is located")
(internal citations and quotation marks omitted). A separate Order of dismissal accompanies this
Memorandum Opinion.
Date: December 'I ,2008
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