Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO: 14-1511 SECTION: R(4)
03-12-2015
TERRELL JAMES SUGGS v. STATE OF LOUISIANA
ORDER AND REASONS
Before the Court is Terrell Suggs's 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus, defendant State of Louisiana's response, and the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation ("R&R") that Suggs's petition be dismissed. The Court, having reviewed de novo the complaint, the record, the applicable law, and the Magistrate Judge's unopposed R&R, hereby approves the R&R and adopts it as its opinion. For the reasons stated in the R&R, Suggs's petition is a successive petition over which this Court has no jurisdiction.
R. Doc. 5.
R. Doc. 16.
R. Doc. 17.
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Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Proceedings provides that "[t]he district court must issue or deny a certificate of appealability when it enters a final order adverse to the applicant." A court may only issue a certificate of appealability if the petitioner makes "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). The "controlling standard" for a certificate of appealability requires the petitioner to show "that 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 [are] adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further." Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336 (2003) (quoting Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000)) (quotation marks removed).
The Court concludes that Suggs's petition fails to satisfy this standard. Accordingly, the Court will not issue a certificate of appealability.
For the foregoing reasons, the Court DISMISSES Suggs's petition for habeas corpus for lack of jurisdiction and DENIES a certificate of appealability.
New Orleans, Louisiana, this 12th day of March, 2015.
/s/ _________
SARAH S. VANCE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE