Filed: Dec. 14, 2005
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 December 14, 2005 Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 05-70015 JERMAINE HERRON, Petitioner-Appellant, versus DOUG DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION, Respondent-Appellee. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (04-CV-02) - ORDER DENYING APPELLEE’S PETITION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABIL
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT December 14, 2005 Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 05-70015 JERMAINE HERRON, Petitioner-Appellant, versus DOUG DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION, Respondent-Appellee. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (04-CV-02) - ORDER DENYING APPELLEE’S PETITION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILI..
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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 December 14, 2005
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 05-70015
JERMAINE HERRON,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
DOUG DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS
DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE,
CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION,
Respondent-Appellee.
--------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
(04-CV-02)
--------------------
ORDER DENYING APPELLEE’S PETITION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF
APPEALABILITY
Before WIENER, BENAVIDES, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Petitioner Jermaine Herron seeks a certificate of
appealability (“COA”) on eight issues that the district court
deemed unworthy of review. The district court denied Herron’s 28
U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition and, sua sponte, denied any petition
for a COA. The district court held that clear, binding precedent
*
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this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except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.
foreclosed review of Herron’s claims and that many of his claims
were barred by the doctrine in Teague v. Lane.1
We note at the outset of our review under the Antiterrorism
and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) that, as a court of
appeals, our consideration is limited “to a threshold inquiry into
the underlying merit of [Petitioner’s] claims.”2 We are to analyze
only “an overview of the claims in the habeas petition and [make]
a general assessment of their merits. ... This threshold inquiry
does not require full consideration of the factual or legal bases
adduced in support of the claims. In fact, the statute forbids
it.”3 After conducting such a limited review, we conclude that
Herron is not entitled to a COA on any issue because he has failed
to make a “substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional
right.”4 He has not demonstrated “that jurists of reason could
disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitutional
claims or that ... the issues presented are adequate to deserve
encouragement to proceed further.”5
1
489 U.S. 288 (1989). In Teague, the Supreme Court held that
we may not premise habeas relief on a new rule of constitutional
law that is not clearly established at the time petitioner’s
conviction became
final. 489 U.S. at 310-12.
2
Miller-El v. Cockrell,
537 U.S. 322, 327 (2003) (citing
Slack v. McDaniel,
529 U.S. 473, 481 (2000)).
3
Id. at 336.
4
28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(B)(2).
5
Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 327 (citing
Slack, 529 U.S. at 484).
2
Here, the briefs, the record on appeal, and in particular the
district court’s well-articulated decision, support denial of a
COA. Although we typically issue more lengthy and detailed
opinions in death penalty cases, the district court here wrote a
thoroughly detailed and well-reasoned 56-page opinion and order
denying Herron’s petition for habeas relief and a COA. Were we to
write more extensively than we do, we would be exalting formalism
and scrupulosity over substance and judicial economy, adding
nothing but repetition and doing nothing more than filling
innumerable pages with synonyms and paraphrases. In this
exceptional case, therefore, we decline to do so and simply deny
Herron’s petition for the reasons well and fully explicated in the
district court’s writing.
PETITION DENIED.
3