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remanding where district court found second-filed petition challenging denial of release to mandatory supervision successive but first-filed petition was pending on appeal
Summary of this case from Medina v. ThalerOpinion
No. 08-50599 Summary Calendar.
April 24, 2009.
Paul James Koumjian, Huntsville, TX, pro se.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, USDC No. 3:08-CV-148.
Before JOLLY, BENAVIDES, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.
Paul James Koumjian, Texas prisoner # 1039181, seeks a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal the district court's dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition as an unauthorized successive § 2254 petition. The district court's ruling relied upon its time-bar dismissal of Koumjian's prior federal habeas petition filed in 2005. The appeal from that dismissal, however, remains pending in this court. See Koumjian v. Quarterman, No. 06-51492. Accordingly, Koumjian has shown "that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its procedural ruling." Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000); Woollard v. United States, 416 F.2d 50, 51 (5th Cir. 1968). Koumjian's motion for a COA is GRANTED, the judgment of the district court is VACATED, and this case is REMANDED for proceedings consistent with this ruling. Koumjian's motion for the appointment of counsel is DENIED.