In Darling v. Sec. Dep’t of Corrections, No. 10-13408 (Sept. 14, 2010), the Court denied a certificate of appealability to a Florida death-row inmate. The Court noted that a certificate of appealability is not available to appeal a district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief unless the petitioner shows that reasonable jurists could debate the decision.
Here, the prosecutor’s potentially erroneous closing argument suggestion that certain mitigating factors could require imposition of the death penalty was cured by the trial court’s instructions on this point.
In addition, though Darling claimed counsel was ineffective for failing to put on mitigating evidence about his background, evidence on this point was “inconclusive.”
Finally, although Darling argued that the Vienna Convention was violated when Florida failed to contact the Bahamian Embassy upon his arrest, the Court found no authority indicating that such a violation could invalidate an otherwise valid conviction and sentence.
Because reasonable jurists could not debate these points, Darling did not qualify for a certificate of appealability.
