Maurice Griffin v. Jeff Macomber

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California dismissed Maurice Griffin’s successive 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition without prejudice. The court held that Griffin had not obtained authorization from the Ninth Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A) and therefore lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition, independently noting his failure to pay the filing fee or seek in forma pauperis status. The court declined to issue a certificate of appealability and directed the Clerk to provide a Ninth Circuit application for leave to file a successive petition.

Holdings

1. A subsequent § 2254 petition challenging the same state-court judgment is second or successive when the prior federal habeas petition was dismissed with prejudice as untimely, because dismissal for failure to comply with the statute of limitations is a permanent and incurable bar to federal review of the underlying claims.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the present § 2254 petition was a second or successive petition because it challenged the same state-court judgment as a prior federal habeas petition that had been dismissed with prejudice as untimely.
2. Whether the district court had jurisdiction to consider the successive petition absent prior authorization from the Ninth Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A).
3. Whether Griffin was entitled to a certificate of appealability from the procedural dismissal.