Mandeville v. Spencer

Filing 65

Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV: ORDER entered. Order on Certificate of Appealability. (Zaleski, Christine)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
__________________________________________
)
R. H. MANDEVILLE,
)
)
Petitioner,
)
)
Civil Action No.
v.
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14-12220-FDS
)
LUIS SPENCER,
)
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Respondent.
)
__________________________________________)
ORDER ON CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILTY
SAYLOR, J.
To appeal a final order in a proceeding instituted under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, the petitioner
must first obtain a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) from a circuit justice or a district court.
See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). A COA will issue only if the petitioner “has made a substantial
showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” Id. § 2253(c)(2). That standard is satisfied by
“demonstrating that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court’s resolution of
[petitioner’s] constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude the issues presented are
adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327
(2003) (citing Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000)).
The Court dismissed the petition because petitioner brought claims that had not been
exhausted in state court, and did not show (1) “good cause” for that failure or (2) that dismissal
would “unreasonably impair [his] right to obtain federal relief.” Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269,
277–78 (2005). Nevertheless, a reasonable jurist could disagree with the Court’s decision to
dismiss the petition rather than stay it, or provide petitioner with an opportunity to delete the
unexhausted claims and proceed on the merits of the exhausted claims.

Accordingly, a certificate of appealability is GRANTED as to whether the petition should
have been stayed to permit petitioner to exhaust his state claims, or the petitioner should have
been granted leave to delete his unexhausted claims and proceed on the merits of the exhausted
claims, rather than dismissing the petition.
So Ordered.

/s/ F. Dennis Saylor
F. Dennis Saylor IV
United States District Judge

Dated: May 15, 2017

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