Opinion
1:14-cr-00271-JLT-SKO
04-26-2022
HUMBERTO BUCIO DELGADO, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.
ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY
(DOC. 161)
Humberto Bucio Delgado, a federal inmate, filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to seek suppression of evidence against Delgado and for misrepresenting the government's plea offer. (Doc. 112.) The Court denied the motion and dismissed the petition. (Doc. 157.) Delgado appealed (Doc. 158), and the Ninth Circuit remanded the case for the limited purpose of granting or denying a certificate of appealability. (Doc. 161.)
A petitioner seeking a writ of habeas corpus has no absolute entitlement to appeal a district court's denial of his petition, and an appeal is only allowed in certain circumstances. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322 335-36 (2003); 28 U.S.C. § 2253. Courts should issue a certificate of appealability only if “reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were ‘adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (quoting Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 893 & n.4 (1983)).
In the present case, the Court finds that reasonable jurists would not find the Court's dismissal of Delgado's petition debatable or wrong, or that Delgado should be allowed to proceed further. As explained in the Court's denial of the petition, Delgado's claims of ineffective assistance are based entirely on speculation without any factual support. Therefore, the Court declines to issue a certificate of appealability.
IT IS SO ORDERED.