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U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
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Procedural orderFiled Oct. 6, 2025

Boe v. Clay County Sheriff Office

Judge
Nancy Brasel
Docket
0:25-cv-03005
Court
U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
Pages
2
HabeasPro SeCivil Procedure
In one sentence

In Boe v. Clay County Sheriff Office, Judge Nancy E. Brasel accepted a magistrate judge's recommendation and denied Edward Bankey Boe's petition for release from custody without prejudice, dismissing the case.

Who this affects

Edward Bankey Boe, a person detained by or in the custody of the Clay County Sheriff Office who sought federal court review of his detention. His petition was denied without prejudice, meaning he may potentially refile, but no certificate of appealability was issued.

What happened

In Boe v. Clay County Sheriff Office (Case No. 25-CV-3005), Edward Bankey Boe filed a petition asking a federal court to order his release from custody held by the Clay County Sheriff Office — a legal procedure that allows a person to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. The case was first reviewed by Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois, who issued a Report and Recommendation on September 3, 2025, suggesting the petition be denied. Neither party filed any objections to that recommendation.

Because no objections were filed, Judge Nancy E. Brasel reviewed the magistrate judge's Report and Recommendation only for clear error — a more limited review than if objections had been raised. Finding no clear error, she accepted the recommendation in full. The court also denied as no longer necessary Boe's application to proceed without paying filing fees (sometimes called a fee waiver), since the case was being dismissed anyway.

Judge Brasel denied Boe's petition without prejudice, meaning he is not permanently barred from filing again in the future, though the case itself is now dismissed. The court also declined to issue a certificate of appealability, which is a document required before a petitioner can appeal this type of ruling to a higher court. Without that certificate, Boe cannot proceed directly to an appeal of this decision.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case: Edward Bankey Boe v. Clay County Sheriff Office, Case No. 25-CV-3005 (NEB/LIB), United States District Court, District of Minnesota. Presiding District Judge: Nancy E. Brasel. Magistrate Judge: Leo I. Brisbois.

Background: Edward Bankey Boe filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus (ECF No. 1), a legal mechanism under which a detained person challenges the lawfulness of their detention and seeks release. He also filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 2), requesting permission to proceed without prepaying court filing fees due to financial hardship.

Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation: On September 3, 2025, Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois issued a Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 3) recommending that the petition be denied without prejudice and that the action be dismissed. The opinion does not describe the underlying reasoning of the Report and Recommendation itself.

District Court Review: No party objected to the Report and Recommendation within the applicable time period. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b) and Eighth Circuit precedent (Grinder v. Gammon, 73 F.3d 793, 795 (8th Cir. 1996)), when no objections are filed, the district court reviews a magistrate judge's report only for clear error — a deferential standard. Judge Brasel found no clear error.

Rulings: Judge Brasel issued the following orders on October 6, 2025:

  1. The Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 3) is ACCEPTED.
  2. The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (ECF No. 1) is DENIED without prejudice — Boe is not permanently barred from refiling.
  3. The action is DISMISSED.
  4. The application for in forma pauperis status (ECF No. 2) is DENIED as moot — because the case is dismissed, the fee waiver request no longer has any practical effect.
  5. No certificate of appealability is issued. A certificate of appealability is required under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 before a habeas petitioner can appeal a district court's denial to the court of appeals. The court's refusal to issue one means Boe cannot proceed with a direct appeal without first seeking the certificate from the appellate court itself.

Judgment was ordered to be entered accordingly.

Reviewer note from the AI+
The opinion is a brief order accepting a magistrate's Report and Recommendation and does not describe the underlying facts of Boe's detention, the legal basis for his habeas petition, or the reasoning in the Report and Recommendation itself. The summary accurately reflects only what is stated in this order. The classification is listed as 'procedural_order' because the district court's ruling is essentially an acceptance of the magistrate's recommendation without independent substantive analysis, but a reviewer may consider 'mixed' given that the denial of the habeas petition is substantively final at the district court level. Also note the date filed in the metadata is '2025-10-06,' which matches the date in the opinion — no discrepancy. The opinion does not reveal why the petition was denied, which limits the depth of the summary.
The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

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