Smith v. Easley

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• Decided: June 10, 2025
• Docket: 25-3034
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Appellate Case: 25-3034 Document: 8-1 Date Filed: 06/10/2025 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT June 10, 2025 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court BENNY R. SMITH,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v. No. 25-3034 (D.C. No. 5:25-CV-03027-JWL) TIMOTHY EASLEY, (D. Kan.)

Respondent - Appellee. _________________________________

ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY* _________________________________

Before HOLMES, Chief Judge, KELLY, and FEDERICO, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

Benny R. Smith, a Kansas prisoner proceeding pro se,1 seeks a certificate of

appealability (COA) to appeal the district court’s Memorandum and Order dismissing his

third 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition for lack of jurisdiction as an unauthorized

successive petition. We deny a COA and dismiss this matter.

A Kansas jury convicted Smith of first-degree murder and the state court

sentenced him to life in prison. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, and

Smith was unsuccessful in his application for state post-conviction relief.

* This order is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. 1 We liberally construe pro se filings. See Licon v. Ledezma, 638 F.3d 1303, 1305-06 (10th Cir. 2011). Appellate Case: 25-3034 Document: 8-1 Date Filed: 06/10/2025 Page: 2

Smith then filed his first habeas petition, which the district court dismissed

without prejudice for failing to comply with a court order to file his petition on the

required form and to address the claims the court identified as unexhausted. Smith

subsequently filed a second habeas petition, which the district court dismissed as

untimely. Smith applied for a COA, but this court denied the request and dismissed the

matter.

Smith then filed his third § 2254 habeas petition. The district court dismissed that

petition as an unauthorized second or successive habeas petition. Smith now seeks a

COA to appeal from the district court’s dismissal order.

To obtain a COA where, as here, a district court has dismissed a filing on

procedural grounds, Smith must show both “that jurists of reason would find it debatable

whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right and that

jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its

procedural ruling.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000). We need not address

the constitutional question if we conclude that reasonable jurists would not debate the

district court’s resolution of the procedural issue. Id. at 485.

The district court’s dismissal of Smith’s second habeas petition as time-barred

“was a decision on the merits, and any later habeas petition challenging the same

conviction is second or successive and is subject to the [Antiterrorism and Effective

Death Penalty Act of 1996] requirements.” In re Rains, 659 F.3d 1274, 1275

(10th Cir. 2011). A state prisoner, like Smith, may not file a second or successive § 2254

habeas petition unless he first obtains an order from this court authorizing the district

2 Appellate Case: 25-3034 Document: 8-1 Date Filed: 06/10/2025 Page: 3

court to consider the petition. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Absent such authorization, a

district court lacks jurisdiction to address the merits of a second or successive § 2254

habeas petition. In re Cline, 531 F.3d 1249, 1251 (10th Cir. 2008).

Smith asserts the district court’s procedural ruling was “capricious and arbitrary

and unreasonable.” COA Appl. at 2. And he asserts the district court “applied the law

incorrectly.” Id. at 3. But he does not offer further explanation or argument to support

these conclusory assertions. The bulk of his COA application complains about issues

related to his attempts to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in 2009 and other

grievances about prison conditions.

Smith does not dispute he filed a successive § 2254 habeas petition without

authorization from this court or otherwise address the district court’s reasoning. He has

therefore failed to show jurists of reason would debate the correctness of the district

court’s procedural ruling dismissing his unauthorized successive § 2254 habeas petition

for lack of jurisdiction. Accordingly, we deny a COA and dismiss this matter. We grant

Smith’s motion for leave to proceed without prepayment of costs or fees.

Entered for the Court

CHRISTOPHER M. WOLPERT, Clerk