FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAR 09 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
SAMVEL AVETISYAN, No. 08-70853
Petitioner, Agency No. A075-578-478
v.
MEMORANDUM *
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted February 15, 2011 **
Before: CANBY, FERNANDEZ, and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Samvel Avetisyan, a native of Georgia and citizen of Armenia, petitions for
review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to
reopen removal proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, Iturribarria v. INS,
321 F.3d 889, 894 (9th Cir. 2003), and we deny the petition for review.
The BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying Avetisyan’s motion to
reopen as untimely where the motion was filed over two years after the BIA’s final
decision, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2), and Avetisyan failed to establish changed
circumstances in Armenia or Georgia to qualify for the regulatory exception to the
time limitation, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii); see also Toufighi v. Mukasey, 538
F.3d 988, 996 (9th Cir. 2008) (requiring movant to produce material evidence with
motion to reopen that conditions in country of nationality had changed).
We decline to reconsider Avetisyan’s challenge to the immigration judge’s
adverse credibility determination because this court already decided the issue in
Avetisyan v. Gonzales, No. 05-75229 (9th Cir. Aug. 21, 2007); see also Merritt v.
Mackey, 932 F.2d 1317, 1320 (9th Cir. 1991) (explaining that under the ‘law of the
case doctrine,’ one panel of an appellate court will not reconsider questions which
another panel has decided on a prior appeal in the same case).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
2 08-70853