Kelly S. Thomas v. Dushan Zatecky

EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge.

Kelly Thomas was sentenced to 65 years’ imprisonment for murder. Indiana’s judiciary affirmed his conviction on appeal and rejected his collateral attack. Thomas v. State, 965 N.E.2d 70 (Ind.App.2012). A federal district judge denied Thomas’s petition for a writ of ha-beas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, and he filed a notice of appeal. The judge declined to issue a certificate of appealability, see 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c), and certified that the appeal had been taken in bad faith. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3). Thus Thomas must pay the $455 appellate fees, before any…