Ellis v. Dowling

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT September 24, 2013
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
BOBBY M. ELLIS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 13-6187
(D.C. No. 5:13-CV-00471-W)
JANET DOWLING, Warden, (W.D. Okla.)
Respondent-Appellee.
ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY*
Before GORSUCH, HOLMES, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.
Bobby M. Ellis, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, seeks a certificate of
appealability (COA) to appeal the district court’s dismissal of his second 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254 habeas petition for lack of jurisdiction. We deny a COA and dismiss the
matter.
Mr. Ellis was convicted of two counts each of rape in the first degree, lewd
molestation, and preparing child pornography. He was sentenced to a 75-year term
of imprisonment for each of the rape convictions, a 20-year term of imprisonment for
each of the lewd molestation convictions, and a 10-year term of imprisonment for
*
This order is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the
case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its
persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
each child pornography conviction. In October 2007, the Oklahoma Court of
Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentences, except it reversed the
conviction on one count of preparing child pornography. Mr. Ellis sought
post-conviction relief in state court, but it was denied.
In April 2010, Mr. Ellis filed his first § 2254 habeas petition challenging his
convictions. The district court dismissed the petition with prejudice as time-barred
because it was filed outside of the one-year statute of limitations, and we denied
Mr. Ellis’s request for a COA. See Ellis v. Parker, 426 F. App’x 683, 683-84
(10th Cir. 2011), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 1011 (2012).
In May 2013, Mr. Ellis filed a second § 2254 habeas petition. The district
court determined that this petition was an unauthorized second or successive petition
and dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction. Mr. Ellis now seeks a COA to appeal that
dismissal.
To obtain a COA, Mr. Ellis must show that “jurists of reason would find it
debatable whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional
right and 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 (2000).
A prisoner may not file a second or successive § 2254 habeas petition unless
he first obtains an order from the circuit court authorizing the district court to
consider the petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). In the absence of such
authorization, a district court lacks jurisdiction to address the merits of a second or
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successive § 2254 habeas petition. See In re Cline, 531 F.3d 1249, 1251
(10th Cir. 2008) (per curiam).
Mr. Ellis’s new § 2254 habeas petition seeks to bring claims of ineffective
assistance of trial and appellate counsel. Mr. Ellis’s first § 2254 habeas petition
brought claims attacking the same conviction that he now seeks to challenge in his
second § 2254 habeas petition. Even though his first § 2254 habeas petition was
dismissed as time-barred, that determination still counts as “a decision on the merits,
and any later habeas petition challenging the same conviction is second or successive
and is subject to the AEDPA requirements.” In re Rains, 659 F.3d 1274, 1275 (10th
Cir. 2011) (per curiam). The district court therefore properly characterized
Mr. Ellis’s new petition as a second or successive § 2254 habeas petition.
Reasonable jurists could not debate that the district court was correct to treat
Mr. Ellis’s new petition as an unauthorized second or successive § 2254 habeas
petition and to dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction. Accordingly, we deny a COA and
dismiss this matter.
We deny Mr. Ellis’s motion for appointment of counsel as moot. We grant
Mr. Ellis’s motion for leave to proceed on appeal without prepayment of costs or
fees.
Entered for the Court
ELISABETH A. SHUMAKER, Clerk
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