Benton v. Addison

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit
TENTH CIRCUIT December 2, 2015
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
JOSHUA ROBERT BENTON,
Petitioner - Appellant,
No. 15-5076
v. (D.C. No. 4:14-CV-00026-JED-PJC)
(D. N.D. Okla.)
MICHAEL ADDISON, Warden,
Respondent - Appellee.
ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY
AND DISMISSING APPEAL
Before GORSUCH, O’BRIEN, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.
Congress decided to pretermit meritless 28 U.S.C. § 2254 litigation. Habeas
petitioners have the burden to make “a substantial showing of the denial of a
constitutional right,” see 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). The law requires us to predetermine
whether “reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) [a
habeas] petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues
presented were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Slack v.
McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (quotations omitted). It does not require or even
expect a detailed explanation at every turn and this case does not deserve one.
The district court issued a thorough and legally sound 30-page order addressing
and denying each of Joshua Benton’s claims. Benton makes no effort to demonstrate
how or why the court got it wrong; he merely reiterates the arguments he raised below.
Because no jurist of reason could reasonably debate the correctness of the result
reached by the district court, we DENY a COA and DISMISS this matter. The district
court permitted Benton to proceed on appeal without prepayment of fees. But only
prepayment is excused, see 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Benton is required to pay all filing
($5.00) and docketing fees ($500.00). Payment must be made to the Clerk of the District
Court.
Entered by the Court:
Terrence L. O’Brien
United States Circuit Judge
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