United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT August 25, 2005
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 04-70048
RICHARD HINOJOSA,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
DOUG DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS
DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE,
CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION,
Respondent-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division
(SA-01-CA-136-RF)
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ORDER DENYING APPELLEE’S PETITION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF
APPEALABILITY
Before WIENER, BENAVIDES, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Appellant Richard Hinojosa petitions the court for a
certificate of appealability to appeal the district court’s denial
of his application for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
After reviewing the briefs, the decision below, and the record, we
find that Hinojosa is not entitled to a COA as to any issue. As
*
Under 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under
the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
this is a death penalty case, it deserves the most exacting
scrutiny from this court, which typically involves a written
opinion. The district court in this case, however, wrote a
thoroughly detailed and well-reasoned 88-page opinion and order
denying Hinojosa’s petition for habeas relief and a COA. Were we
to write a lengthy opinion affirming that court, we would be
exalting formalism and scrupulosity over substance and judicial
economy, adding nothing but repetition and doing nothing more than
filling innumerable pages with synonyms and paraphrases. In this
exceptional case, therefore, we decline to do so and simply deny
Hinojosa’s COA for the reasons well and fully explicated in the
district court’s writing.
PETITION DENIED.
2