James Holsey v. Danny Thompson, Warden

FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MARCH 21, 2012
JOHN LEY
CLERK
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 10-14789
Non-Argument Calendar
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D. C. Docket No. 4:10-cv-00025-CDL
JAMES HOLSEY,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
DANNY THOMPSON,
Warden,
Respondent-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Georgia
________________________
(March 21, 2012)
Before EDMONDSON, MARTIN and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:

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James Holsey, a Georgia prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his
pro se 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition, challenging his convictions for
malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,
possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and kidnapping.1
Holsey was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years for his offenses.
Reversible error has been shown; we affirm in part and vacate and remand in part
for additional proceedings.
Holsey raised seven claims in his section 2254 petition, four of which are at
issue on appeal. In Grounds Two and Three, Holsey argued that the Georgia
Supreme Court erred in concluding that the trial court’s erroneous evidentiary
ruling and jury instruction were harmless. In Grounds Six and Seven, Holsey
argued that the state habeas court erred in denying his ineffective assistance of
counsel claim and in failing to address his claim that insufficient evidence existed
to prove the asportation element of kidnapping.
The district court denied Grounds Two and Three, concluding that they
raised issues of pure state law and, thus, were not cognizable under federal habeas
review. The district court also denied Grounds Six and Seven as non-cognizable
We review the district court’s denial of habeas relief de novo and review the court’s1
findings of fact for clear error. Pruitt v. Jones, 348 F.3d 1355, 1356 (11th Cir. 2003). In
addition, we construe liberally pro se pleadings. Bellizia v. Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 614 F.3d 1326,
1329 (11th Cir. 2010).
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under federal habeas review because they alleged errors in the state habeas
proceedings instead of challenging Holsey’s confinement itself. We granted a
certificate of appealability on “[w]hether the district court erred by failing to
liberally construe Holsey’s second, third, six[th,] and seventh claims as alleging
the underlying substantive claims for relief.”
We see no error in the district court’s denial of Grounds Two and Three.
That “[a] state’s interpretation of its own laws or rules provides no basis for
federal habeas corpus relief, since no question of a constitutional nature is
involved” is well established. McCullough v. Singletary, 967 F.2d 530, 535 (11th
Cir. 1992). On direct appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court -- interpreting and
applying only Georgia law -- concluded that the trial court erred when it sustained
an objection to defense counsel’s attempt to impeach a witness with an
inconsistent statement and when it instructed the jury on Holsey’s earlier felony
drug conviction. The high court determined, however, that these errors were
harmless because they did not contribute to the guilty verdict. Because Holsey
challenges the Georgia Supreme Court’s interpretation of Georgia law, Grounds
Two and Three are not cognizable under federal habeas review.
We also see no error in the district court’s denial of Ground Seven, in which
Holsey challenged the state habeas court’s failure to address his sufficiency of the
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evidence claim. We have established that a challenge to a state collateral
proceeding -- like the one in Ground Seven -- does not undermine the legality of
the conviction itself and, thus, alleged defects in such proceedings do not provide
a basis for habeas relief. See Carroll v. Sec’y, DOC, 574 F.3d 1354, 1365 (11th
Cir.), cert. denied, 130 S.Ct. 500 (2009). In addition, to the extent that Holsey
addressed the underlying merits of his sufficiency of the evidence claim, he relied
on various Georgia cases and on an alleged change in the Georgia kidnapping
statute. Thus, his claim is one of pure state law and is non-cognizable under
federal habeas review. See McCullough, 967 F.2d at 535.
In Ground Six, Holsey alleged that the state habeas court erred in denying
his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. In doing so, he described 15 different
issues that his counsel failed to raise on appeal. In his reply brief in the district
court, Holsey also cited to Strickland v. Washington, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (1984), and
to other federal cases addressing ineffective assistance of counsel claims. That
Holsey intended to argue the merits of his underlying ineffective assistance of
counsel claim is clear enough. The district court erred in concluding that Ground2
Six failed to raise a federal issue; therefore, we vacate and remand for the district
The state concedes on appeal that the district court should have construed Ground Six as2
asserting the underlying ineffective assistance of counsel claim.
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court to review the merits of Holsey’s underlying ineffective assistance of counsel
claim: Ground Six.
AFFIRMED IN PART; VACATED AND REMANDED IN PART.
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