Opinion
Civil Action No. 07-10316-JLT.
November 29, 2007
ORDER
On November 14, 2007, Natale Cosenza ("Petitioner") filed a Motion for Certificate of Appealability [#17]. For the following reasons, Petitioner's Motion is DENIED.
The standard for granting a COA is well established. Such relief should only be granted upon a "substantial showing" of a constitutional violation. The definition of what constitutes a "substantial showing" is straightforward. Where the district court has rejected the original petition on the merits, "[t]he petitioner must demonstrate that reasonable jurists would find the district court's assessment of the constitutional claim debatable or wrong."
Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 483 (2000).
Id. at 484.
After reviewing Petitioner's submissions and the record, this court concludes that Petitioner failed to satisfy this standard. Petitioner seeks a Certificate of Appealability because the trial judge in state court proceeding excluded expert testimony offered by the Petitioner, the defendant in the state court proceeding. But the trial judge was well within his limits in doing so; "the trial judge has broad discretion in the matter of the admission or exclusion of expert evidence, and his action is to be sustained unless manifestly erroneous."
Salem v. United States Lines, 370 U.S. 31, 35 (1962).
Here, the decision was not manifestly erroneous. Petitioner filed a Motion in Limine to allow an expert to testify on the psychological underpinnings of eye-witness testimony. The trial judge denied the motion, a decision which rests firmly within his discretion. It would be difficult for reasonable jurists to find "debatable or wrong" a decision which falls so squarely within a judge's discretion.
See Commonwealth v. Zimmerman, 804 N.E.2d 336, 342 (Mass. 2004); Commonwealth v. Ashley, 694 N.E.2d 862, 866 (Mass. 1998);Commonwealth v. Francis, 453 N.E.2d 1204, 1207-1210 (Mass. 1983).
The court finds no basis for granting a Certificate of Appealability in the present case. The motion is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.