United States v. Sherman Fields

KING, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner-Appellant Sherman Lamont Fields was convicted of murder in a- jury trial in federal district court and sentenced to death. We affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct appeal. Fields unsuccessfully sought habeas relief in the district court on numerous grounds, and now seeks a certificate of appealability to challenge the district court’s denial of habeas relief. We hold that reasonable jurists could not debate the district court’s conclusions and accordingly DENY Fields’s request for a certificate of appealability.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A.…