Filed: Apr. 24, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT April 24, 2007 Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 05-30289 Summary Calendar TROY HOPKINS, Petitioner-Appellant, versus BURL CAIN, WARDEN, LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, Respondent-Appellee. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 5:04-CV-343 - Before DeMOSS, STEWART, and PRADO, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* The district court grante
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT April 24, 2007 Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 05-30289 Summary Calendar TROY HOPKINS, Petitioner-Appellant, versus BURL CAIN, WARDEN, LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, Respondent-Appellee. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 5:04-CV-343 - Before DeMOSS, STEWART, and PRADO, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* The district court granted..
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United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT April 24, 2007
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 05-30289
Summary Calendar
TROY HOPKINS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
BURL CAIN, WARDEN, LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY,
Respondent-Appellee.
--------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 5:04-CV-343
--------------------
Before DeMOSS, STEWART, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
The district court granted Troy Hopkins, Louisiana prisoner
#130084, a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal the
denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition. Specifically, the
district court granted COA with respect to whether his “claims
were not procedurally barred by La. C.Cr.P. art. 930.4(A) and
URCA 4-5 because his failure to comply was a result of the denial
of his requests for court records and transcripts.” This court
does not address issues discussed on appeal by Hopkins or the
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
No. 05-30289
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State that are not within the scope of the COA grant. See Lackey
v. Johnson,
116 F.3d 149, 151 (5th Cir. 1997).
The state appellate court determined that some of Hopkins’s
state habeas claims were barred by LA. CODE CRIM. PROC. art.
930.4(A) and that Hopkins’s writ application to that court failed
to comply with U.R.C.A. 4-5 because it failed to include a copy
of the state district court’s judgment denying his state habeas
petition, a copy of pertinent court minutes, and a copy of the
judge’s reasons for the judgment. We need not address the part
of the district court’s COA grant that is related to LA. CODE
CRIM. PROC. art. 930.4(A) because, for the reasons discussed
below, Hopkins does not establish cause for his failure to comply
with U.R.C.A. 4-5.
Hopkins has stated both in the district court and in his
original brief to this court that his writ application to the
state appellate court contained only a cover page and copies of
his state habeas and supplemental habeas petitions. He asserts
that he was prevented from complying with Rule 4-5 because his
requests for his trial record have been denied.
Whether requests by Hopkins for trial transcripts or the
trial record were denied is irrelevant to whether Hopkins has
established cause for failing to comply with Rule 4-5 because the
state appellate court did not find that Hopkins’s writ
application was incomplete based upon the lack of a trial record
or trial transcripts. Moreover, Hopkins has not shown that he
No. 05-30289
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requested a copy of the state district court’s judgment denying
his state habeas petition and the relevant court minutes and that
such a request was denied.
Contrary to his assertions that he was unable to comply with
Rule 4-5, Hopkins alleges in his reply brief, as he did in his
COA motion to the district court, that he complied with Rule 4-5
by attaching a copy of the state district court’s judgment to his
writ application. In his COA motion to the district court,
Hopkins asserted that his compliance with Rule 4-5 was “clear”
from reviewing his exhibits to his § 2254 petition. His exhibits
to his § 2254 petition, however, included only an unstamped,
unfiled writ application to the state appellate court and that
writ application indicated that there was an appendix that
contained a denial of habeas relief by the Orleans Parish
Criminal District Court. The denial of habeas relief in this
case was by a district court in Caddo Parish, not Orleans Parish.
Regardless, the writ application included in Hopkins’s exhibits
to his § 2254 petition did not include a copy of a district court
judgment from either Orleans or Caddo Parish.
Moreover, the State has produced a copy of a writ
application that was signed by Hopkins and filed in the state
appellate court. It is clear that this writ application
challenged the state district court’s denial of Hopkins’s state
habeas and supplemental habeas petitions and that the writ
No. 05-30289
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application consisted of only a cover page and copies of those
petitions without any accompanying attachments.
Hopkins’s assertion that he submitted a copy of the state
district court’s judgment to the state appellate court is not
credible based upon his earlier and contrary assertions in the
district court and in this court that his writ application
contained only a cover page and copies of his state habeas
petitions. Moreover, his earlier assertions are supported by the
signed and filed writ application submitted by the State, and his
later assertion that he submitted a copy of the state district
court judgment to the state appellate court finds no support in
the unsigned, unfiled writ application that was included as an
exhibit to Hopkins’s § 2254 petition. As Hopkins has not shown
that he submitted a copy of the state district court’s judgment
or the relevant court minutes with his writ application to the
state appellate court and because he has not shown cause for his
failure to do, the district court’s judgment denying his § 2254
petition is AFFIRMED.