Randall Dale Watson v. Warden Victor L. Walker

Randall Dale Watson, a Georgia state prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court denied the petition because Watson failed to appeal the denial of his state habeas petition to the Georgia Supreme Court and thus, his claims were unexhausted and procedurally barred. We granted a certificate of ap-pealability (“COA”) on only the following issue:

Whether Ga. Sup.Ct. R. 40, as amended, has any affect on this Court’s holding in Pope v. Rich, 358 F.3d 852, 854 (11th Cir.2004) that a Georgia…