Instructions. 1. To use this form, you must be a person who is or will be serving a sentence under a judgment against you in a state court. Habeas corpus is perhaps the most critical writ available to prisoners for challenging criminal convictions and sentences in state and federal courts.- This Court may act on any petition for a writ of habeas corpus, mandamus, or prohibition before a responsive pleading or reply of the petitioner is filed. - This Court may act on any petition for a writ of habeas corpus, mandamus, or prohibition before a responsive pleading or reply of the petitioner is filed. This petition, called a writ of Habeas Corpus, is filed in Federal Court (US District Court ) whether you are serving time in a federal or state prison. Habeas corpus is available to prisoners challenging their convictions and sentences. Entertain a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and history bears this out, as the court has yet to reach the merits of a petition since 1986.25. A copy of Chapter 19.1 and of Chapter 19.2 of Title 19.2 of the Code of Virginia. (§ 19.2-327.1 and § 19.2-327.2 to -327.6). 2. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, which means it defines constitutional rights and violations in the cases it decides.