Chapman v. Lampert, 702 F. App'x 672

Chapman pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder in Wyoming and was sentenced to 25–50 years on February 10, 2010; he moved to withdraw the plea and also filed a direct appeal in March 2010 while the motion was pending.
Wyoming state courts denied his motion and affirmed on direct appeal. See Chapman v. State, 300 P.3d 864 (Wyo. 2013).
Chapman has repeatedly challenged the conviction and sentence in state and federal court via multiple § 2254 petitions; his first habeas petition was denied on the merits, and two subsequent petitions were dismissed as unauthorized second or successive petitions.
Chapman filed a fourth § 2254 petition in district court without obtaining prior authorization from the Tenth Circuit to file a second or successive petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A).
The district court dismissed the fourth petition for lack of jurisdiction as an unauthorized second or successive application; Chapman sought a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal that procedural ruling.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the district court had jurisdiction to consider Chapman's fourth § 2254 petition	Chapman: he is not challenging the underlying conviction/sentence; he seeks to reinstate/prosecute the March 2010 direct appeal	State: the reinstated appeal would challenge the same conviction and sentence, so the petition is a successive § 2254 requiring prior appellate authorization	Court: Chapman is attacking the same judgment/sentence; petition is second/successive and district court lacked jurisdiction absent Tenth Circuit authorization
Whether Chapman is entitled to a COA to appeal the procedural dismissal	Chapman: COA warranted to contest the district court's procedural ruling	State: procedural bar is clear; no debatable question of jurisdiction without authorization	Court: COA denied — no reasonable jurists would find the procedural ruling debatable; appeal dismissed

In re Cline, 531 F.3d 1249 (10th Cir. 2008) (district court lacks jurisdiction to consider second or successive § 2254 claims without court of appeals authorization)
Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 320 (2010) (distinguishing challenges to a new judgment/sentence from successive petitions attacking the same judgment)
Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473 (2000) (standards for issuing a certificate of appealability when dismissal rests on procedural grounds)
Garza v. Davis, 596 F.3d 1198 (10th Cir. 2010) (pro se habeas filings are construed liberally)
Chapman v. State, 300 P.3d 864 (Wyo. 2013) (state-court decision affirming denial of plea-withdrawal motion)