Rosa v. Maloney

• Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Decided: September 7, 2006
• Docket: 05-2796
• Status: Published

Opinion

Not For Publication in West's Federal Reporter Citation Limited Pursuant to 1st Cir. Loc. R. 32.3

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 05-2796

THOMAS ROSA, JR.,

Petitioner, Appellant,

v.

MICHAEL T. MALONEY,

Respondent, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Boudin, Chief Judge, Torruella and Dyk,* Circuit Judges.

Kathleen M. McCarthy, was on brief, for appellant. Susanne G. Reardon, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Bureau, with whom Thomas F. Reilly, Attorney General, were on brief, for appellee.

September 7, 2006

* Of the Federal Circuit, sitting by designation. Per Curiam. Petitioner Thomas Rosa, Jr. ("Rosa") appeals

the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas

corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Rosa claims that his Massachusetts

state court conviction for murder in the first degree and

kidnaping, Commonwealth v. Rosa, 422 Mass. 18 (1996), should be set

aside on two grounds. First, Rosa alleges that post-conviction DNA

testing casts doubt on his original conviction. Second, the

prosecution lost two pieces of evidence before DNA-testing could be

performed. The district court found that neither ground was a

viable challenge to Rosa's conviction. After carefully reviewing

the parties' arguments, we affirm substantially for the reasons set

out by the district court in its thorough and well-reasoned

memorandum and order. We find no arguments requiring further

discussion on appeal.

Affirmed.

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