Townes v. Jarvis

OPINION

DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Circuit Judge:

The Virginia Parole Board found Carl Melvin Townes ineligible for discretionary parole. After a state court denied him habeas relief, Townes filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, claiming that the parole ineligibility determination violated his due process and equal protection rights. The district court dismissed the petition. We granted a certificate of appealability on both constitutional claims. Because the state released Townes from prison during the pendency of this appeal, it initially contends that Townes’s claims are…