George Massey, a former Mississippi inmate, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his 2007 conviction for lustful touching of a child. The district court dismissed the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, ruling that Massey was not 'in custody' for habeas purposes because he was no longer physically incarcerated, but only subject to a lifetime sex offender registry requirement. Despite the dismissal, the district court issued a certificate of appealability on a single procedural ground: whether the registry requirement constituted 'state custody.' On appeal, Massey argued that the registry obligation satisfied the custody requirement. The state argued the certificate was procedurally defective and that the appeal should be dismissed because Massey's underlying claim was for actual innocence, which is not a valid basis for federal habeas relief.
The Fifth Circuit focused on the statutory requirements for issuing a certificate of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253. The court explained that a valid certificate must indicate that the petitioner has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. The certificate in this case identified a debatable procedural ruling regarding custody but failed to indicate on which issue Massey made the required substantial showing of a constitutional denial. Consequently, the certificate did not satisfy the dual showings required by statute. Furthermore, the court noted that even if it could issue a new certificate, there was no basis to do so because the only substantive claim Massey presented in his § 2254 application was a freestanding claim of actual innocence. Under Fifth Circuit precedent, such a claim is not cognizable through federal habeas review.
The appeal is dismissed, leaving the district court's dismissal of Massey's habeas petition in place. The decision reinforces the strict statutory requirements for certificates of appealability and confirms that federal courts cannot entertain freestanding actual innocence claims in § 2254 proceedings. Petitioners must now ensure their certificates explicitly address the substantial showing of a constitutional right, and they cannot rely on actual innocence as a standalone ground for habeas relief.
Podcast (federal-narrative-summaries): Play in new window | Download