Gomez v. Sullivan
- Susan Illston
- 3:19-cv-06129
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Gomez v. Sullivan, Judge Illston denied permission to appeal an earlier counsel-appointment order, without preventing petitioner from seeking permission from the Ninth Circuit.
Petitioner Elroy Pedro Gomez, whose request for a certificate of appealability was denied; the denial does not prevent him from seeking a certificate from the Ninth Circuit.
What happened
In Gomez v. Sullivan, petitioner Elroy Pedro Gomez’s petition challenging his detention was denied, and judgment was entered on October 16, 2020. His earlier request for appointment of counsel was denied on October 20, 2020.
Gomez appealed the October 20 order and identified alleged errors. The Ninth Circuit sent the matter back to the district court only to decide whether to issue a certificate of appealability, which is permission to appeal in this type of case.
Judge Susan Illston denied the certificate of appealability because the court concluded that reasonable judges would not debate whether the petition stated a valid constitutional claim or whether the district court correctly ruled on the request for counsel. The denial does not prevent Gomez from seeking a certificate from the Ninth Circuit.
The detailed version
- Gomez v. Sullivan · No. 3:19-cv-06129
- Susan Illston
- Dec. 4, 2020
Background
The district court had denied Elroy Pedro Gomez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a petition challenging the legality of detention, and entered judgment on October 16, 2020. The court had also denied Gomez’s earlier request for appointment of counsel on October 20, 2020.
Gomez later filed a notice of appeal from the October 20 order and identified specific alleged errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit referred the matter to Judge Susan Illston for the limited purpose of deciding whether to issue a certificate of appealability.
Court’s Analysis
A certificate of appealability is required to pursue an appeal in this type of habeas case. The court applied the standard that such a certificate should issue only when reasonable judges could debate whether the petition states a valid claim that a constitutional right was denied and whether the district court correctly made the procedural ruling at issue.
The court concluded that this standard was not met for the October 20, 2020 order denying appointment of counsel.
Ruling
Judge Susan Illston denied the certificate of appealability. The denial was without prejudice to Gomez seeking a certificate from the Ninth Circuit. The order did not revisit the October 16 denial of the habeas petition or the judgment entered on that petition.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.