Warfield v. GRAMS

Filing 24

ORDER denying 23 Motion for an expanded Certificate of Appealability. Signed by Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb on 9/15/09. (elc)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FO R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

A N D R E W. WARFIELD, P e ti ti o n e r , v. G R E G GRAMS, Warden, C o lu m b ia Correctional Institution, R espo nd ent. OR DER 0 8 -c v -0 4 7 7 -s lc

O n January 30, 2009, this court denied Andre Warfield's petition for a writ of habeas co rp us. On March 9, 2009, I entered an order granting him a certificate of appealability on the issue whether the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reasonably applied the test of Jackson v. V i rgin ia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979), to the evidence adduced at trial when it sustained petitioner's convictions for hostage-taking and kidnapping. I declined to certify for appeal W arfield's theory that his convictions violated his substantive due process rights. On August 17, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an order affirming the judgm ent and declining to expand the scope of the certificate. Warfield v. Grams, 2009 WL 24 88 37 6 (7th Cir. Aug. 17, 2009) (unpublished slip opinion). P etitio n er has now filed a motion in this court, asking it to expand the certificate of appealability to include the substantive due process issue. The motion must be denied. The court of appeals conclusively decided that issue against petitioner in its August 17 order,

declinin g to expand the scope of the certificate because it found no merit to petitioner's su bstan tive due process argument. This court has no authority to overturn that decision, w hich stands as the law of the case. Petitioner's case is now closed.

ORDER IT IS ORDERED that the motion of Andre Warfield for an expanded certificate of appealability is DENIED. E n tered this 15 t h day of September, 2009.

B Y THE COURT: /s/ B AR B AR A B. CRABB D istrict Judge

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