Smith v. Davis
- Susan Illston
- 3:19-cv-08152
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Smith v. Davis, Judge Illston denied a certificate of appealability and denied as moot requests to extend the appeal deadline and for a certificate.
Troy Smith, whose requests concerning the appeal deadline and certificate of appealability were denied; Ronald Davis is the defendant named in the case.
What happened
In Smith v. Davis, Troy Smith asked for more time to file a notice of appeal and requested a certificate of appealability.
The court said it would not issue a certificate of appealability because the case did not meet the required standard. It denied Smith’s requests as moot, meaning the court found they no longer required a ruling after its certificate decision. The court said the appeal deadline would run from the judgment entered at the same time as this order.
Judge Susan Illston issued the order on August 25, 2020. The denial of a certificate of appealability was without prejudice to Smith asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for one.
The detailed version
- Smith v. Davis · No. 3:19-cv-08152
- Susan Illston
- Aug. 25, 2020
Background
Troy Smith asked for an extension of the deadline to file a notice of appeal. He also filed a motion for a certificate of appealability, which is required for an appeal in this type of case.
Ruling
The court stated that a certificate of appealability would not issue under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). It concluded that this was not a case in which reasonable judges could debate whether the petition stated a valid claim that a constitutional right was denied or whether the district court had correctly made its procedural ruling.
The court denied the request for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal and the motion for a certificate of appealability as moot. The court’s denial of a certificate of appealability was without prejudice to Smith requesting one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The deadline for filing a notice of appeal would run from the entry of the judgment filed concurrently with the order.
Disposition
Judge Susan Illston denied the certificate of appealability and denied as moot the extension request and the certificate motion.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.