Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:14-CV-322
07-26-2017
DARLA MARIE SHEFFIELD, TDCJ #01769407, Petitioner, v. LORIE DAVIS, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent.
ORDER
Petitioner Darla Marie Sheffield has filed a motion seeking leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. The Court will grant the motion. Although this Court denied a certificate of appealability because Sheffield did not make a substantial showing of the denial of a Constitutional right, the Court cannot say that an appeal from the final judgment in this case would be objectively frivolous. United States v. Youngblood, 116 F.3d 1113, 1115 (5th Cir. 1997); see also Thomas v. Zatecky, 712 F.3d 1004, 1006 (7th Cir. 2013) ("A frivolous appeal never meets the standard for a certificate of appealability. But an appeal can be non-frivolous and still flunk the standard established by [28 U.S.C.] § 2253(c)(2), which conditions a certificate of appealability on a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.") (quotation marks omitted).
The Court GRANTS Sheffield's motion for leave to appeal in forma pauperis (Dkt. 92). The Court will not assess an appellate filing fee. Garza v. Thaler, 585 F.3d 888, 889-90 (5th Cir. 2009).
Sheffield has also filed a vague "motion for electronic access" that presumably requests permission to access the record on appeal electronically. That motion (Dkt. 88) is DENIED; matters of appellate record access are more appropriately directed to the Fifth Circuit.
The Clerk will provide a copy of this Order to the parties and to the Clerk of Court of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit docket number is 17-40742.
SIGNED at Galveston, Texas on July 26, 2017.
/s/_________
GEORGE C. HANKS, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE