Steve Wooden v. Superintendent Joseph Terra, Philadelphia County District Attorney's Office

Wooden · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania · December 3, 2025 · No. 2:23-cv-1366

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied and dismissed Steve Wooden’s motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The court also denied a certificate of appealability to the extent the motion could be construed as a successive petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244.

Court
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Writing for the Court
Joseph F. Leeson, Jr.
Jurisdiction
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Decision date
December 3, 2025
Docket number
2:23-cv-1366
Procedural posture
Petitioner moved for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The court denied and dismissed the motion. To the extent the motion was construed as a successive habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244, the court denied a certificate of appealability.
Standard of review
For a certificate of appealability, the court applied the substantial-showing and reasonable-jurist standards stated in Slack v. McDaniel.
Precedential value
Nonprecedential district court order
Disposition
dismissed

Topics

federal habeas corpussuccessive petitionspost-conviction reliefmotion for reconsiderationcivil procedure

Practice areas

federal habeas corpuspost-conviction reliefcivil procedure

Questions Presented

  1. Whether Petitioner was entitled to relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b).
  2. Whether, if the motion were construed as a successive habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244, Petitioner was entitled to a certificate of appealability.

Holdings

  1. Petitioner's Motion for Relief from Judgment under Rule 60(b) was denied and dismissed.
  2. A certificate of appealability was denied because Petitioner had not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right and reasonable jurists would not find the court's assessment debatable or wrong.

Key quotations

Petitioner’s Motion for Relief from Judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b), ECF No. 23, is DENIED and DISMISSED. (p. 1)

Factual background

The supplied text contains no substantive facts about the underlying criminal conviction or habeas proceedings. It establishes only that Steve Wooden sought relief from judgment under Rule 60(b) in this federal habeas matter.

Procedural history

The supplied order addresses Petitioner's Motion for Relief from Judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b), ECF No. 23. The court denied and dismissed the motion for the reasons stated in an opinion issued the same day. The order further stated that, if construed as a successive petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244, a certificate of appealability was denied.

Court Document

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