OMAR KHAYYAM HUMPHREY v. JACQUELYN BANKS (2017)

ORDER:

Omar Khayyam Humphrey, Mississippi prisoner # R3755, moves this court for a certificate of appealability (COA) following the district court's dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 application wherein he sought to challenge his conviction for capital murder. Humphrey argues that the application met the requirements for a successive application set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2) based on newly discovered evidence.

This court may issue a COA only if Humphrey has “made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). Where, as here, the district court denies relief on procedural grounds without reaching the underlying constitutional claims, this court will issue a COA “when the prisoner shows, at least, 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).

Humphrey has made no such showing. Accordingly, his motion for a COA is DENIED.

EDITH H. JONES UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE