Williamson v. Dinwiddie

ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY

This matter is before the court on Charlie Williamson’s pro se requests for a certificate of appealability (“COA”) and to proceed on appeal in forma pauperis. Williamson seeks a COA so he can appeal the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A). We grant Williamson’s request to proceed on appeal informa pauperis. Because he has not, however, “made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right,” id. § 2253(c)(2), this court denies Williamson’s request for a COA and dismisses this appeal.

A jury convicted Williamson in Oklahoma state court on one count of Endeavoring to Manufacture Methamphetamine. Pursuant to the jury’s recommendation, the state trial court sentenced Williamson to thirty-years’ imprisonment. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (“OCCA”) affirmed Williamson’s conviction and sentence in an unpublished summary opinion. Williamson v. State, No. F-2004-172 (Okla.Crim.App. Apr. 20, 2005). Williamson then filed the instant § 2254 petition in federal district court, raising the same five grounds for relief he raised on direct appeal to the OCCA. The matter was referred to a federal magistrate judge for *84 initial proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). In a comprehensive Report and Recommendation, the magistrate judge analyzed each ground for relief set out in Williamson’s § 2254 habeas petition and recommended that the district court deny habeas relief. The district court adopted the Report and Recommendation and denied Williamson’s petition.

The granting of a COA is a jurisdictional prerequisite to Williamson’s appeal from the dismissal of his § 2254 petition. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 587 U.S. 322, 336, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). To be entitled to a COA, Williamson must make “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). To make the requisite showing, he must demonstrate “reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 336, 123 S.Ct. 1029 (quotations omitted). In evaluating whether Williamson has satisfied his burden, this court undertakes “a preliminary, though not definitive, consideration of the [legal] framework” applicable to each of his claims. Id. at 338, 123 S.Ct. 1029. Although Williamson need not demonstrate his appeal will succeed to be entitled to a COA, he must “prove something more than the absence of frivolity or the existence of mere good faith.” Id.

Having undertaken a review of Williamson’s appellate filings, the district court’s Order, the magistrate judge’s well-stated Report and Recommendation, and the entire record before this court, we conclude Williamson is not entitled to a COA. In so concluding, this court has nothing to add to the comprehensive analysis set out in the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation. Accordingly, this court DENIES Williamson’s request for a COA and DISMISSES this appeal.