F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
JUL 29 1997
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
ROBERT SAMUEL CHAPPELL,
Petitioner-Appellant,
No. 96-2236
v.
(D.C. No. CIV-96-125-LH)
(District of New Mexico)
JOHN SHANKS, Warden; ATTORNEY
GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW
MEXICO,
Respondents-Appellees.
ORDER
Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge; PORFILIO and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
Robert Samuel Chappell, a state prisoner, seeks to appeal the denial of his petition
for a writ of habeas corpus as an abuse of the writ. The matter is pending before us on an
application for a certificate of appealability. We have examined Mr. Chappell’s brief and
the record, including the magistrate judge’s amended proposed recommendation and
conclude no error was committed.
Principally for the reasons given in the recommendations of the magistrate judge,
we hold Mr. Chappell has failed to demonstrate the denial of a constitutional right by
showing the issues raised in his appeal are debatable among jurists; that a court could
resolve the issues differently; or that the questions deserve further proceedings. The
certificate of appealability is DENIED and the appeal is DISMISSED. 28 U.S.C.
§ 2253(c)(2); Lennox v. Evans, 87 F.3d 431 (10th Cir. 1996). The motion for leave to
proceed without payment of fees is GRANTED.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
John C. Porfilio
Circuit Judge
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