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481 F.3d 288

Docket No. 06-70003.

Sonnier v. Quarterman

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided March 9, 2007.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 2007-03-09

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently March 2007

1 federal appellate ·

2 counsel of record

Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2253 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)

Relies on Strickland v. Washington · Miller-El v. Cockrell Director Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division · Sonnier v. Quarterman

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 2007-03-09

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Jani J. Maselli, Houston, TX, for Sonnier.

¶2*289Thomas M. Jones, Austin, TX, for Quar-terman.

¶3Before HIGGINBOTHAM, BENAVIDES and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

¶4PER CURIAM:

¶5It is ordered that the petitioner-appellant’s Petition for Panel Rehearing is DENIED. In light of petitioner-appellant’s brief in support of his petition for rehearing, we have carefully reconsidered our panel opinion and reiterate that our denial of a certificate of appealability (“COA”) is based upon Sonnier’s failure to make a “substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right,” as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2).

¶6Applying the Supreme Court’s analysis established in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the district court determined that Sonnier failed to show that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance in violation of the Sixth Amendment. Our panel opinion clearly held that Sonnier “failed to demonstrate that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude that the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further, as required by the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) in Miller-El v. Cockrell.” Sonnier v. Quarterman, 476 F.3d at 369. As a result, we denied his request for a COA.

¶7After careful consideration of Sonnier’s brief in support of his petition for panel rehearing, we still do not believe that he is entitled to a COA. “By enacting AEDPA, ... Congress confirmed the necessity and the requirement of differential treatment for those appeals deserving of attention from those that plainly do not ... [Issuance of a COA must not be pro forma or a matter of course.” Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 337, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). Sonnier argues that the panel delved too deeply into the merits of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. However, “[t]he COA determination under § 2253(c) requires an overview of the claims in the habeas petition and a general assessment of their merits.” Id. at 336, 123 S.Ct. 1029. And our threshold inquiry into Sonnier’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim revealed that reasonable jurists would not find the district court’s assessment of his constitutional claim debatable or wrong. Specifically, no reasonable jurist would find debatable or wrong that Sonnier had failed to show prejudice as required by Strickland.

¶8The petition for rehearing is DENIED.

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