Todd v. United States
- Richard Sullivan
- 1:16-cv-00382-RJS
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Todd v. United States, Judge Sullivan denied Todd’s motion for a certificate of appealability after finding no substantial constitutional-right showing.
Taijay Todd’s ability to appeal the issues on which the court had denied his post-conviction relief.
What happened
In Todd v. United States, Taijay Todd asked the court for permission to appeal the issues on which it had denied his request to set aside his conviction. The court had previously granted him partial relief concerning a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).
Todd’s motion sought a certificate of appealability, which is required to appeal the denial of certain federal post-conviction claims. The court said he had not made a substantial showing that the Constitution had been violated on the issues for which relief was denied.
Judge Richard J. Sullivan denied Todd’s motion for a certificate of appealability. The order did not provide further details about the underlying grounds on which the court had denied relief.
The detailed version
- Todd v. United States · No. 1:16-cv-00382-RJS
- Richard Sullivan
- Mar. 28, 2022
Background
Taijay Todd was the petitioner in a post-conviction case and the defendant in a related criminal case. The court stated that, in a February 26, 2020 order, it had granted partial relief concerning Todd’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), while denying relief on other issues. The opinion does not identify those other issues.
Motion
Todd moved for a certificate of appealability concerning the issues on which the court had denied post-conviction relief. A certificate of appealability is court authorization required for an appeal from the denial of certain federal post-conviction claims. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), the applicant must make a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied.
Ruling
The court concluded that Todd had not made the required substantial showing regarding the grounds on which it had denied relief. It therefore denied Todd’s motion for issuance of a certificate of appealability. This order addressed the appeal certificate and did not reconsider the underlying February 26, 2020 ruling.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.