Court Opinion

ID: 9889665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-11 00:00:25.819668+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:58.177062
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-70005      Document: 00516926548         Page: 1     Date Filed: 10/10/2023

                            MODIFIED 10/10/2023

            United States Court of Appeals
                 for the Fifth Circuit
                                                                          United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                   Fifth Circuit

                                 ____________                                    FILED
                                                                           October 9, 2023
                                  No. 23-70005                              Lyle W. Cayce
                                 ____________                                    Clerk

   Jedidiah Isaac Murphy,

                                                              Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                       versus

   Ali Mustapha Nasser,

                                            Defendant—Appellant.
                   ______________________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Western District of Texas
                             USDC No. 1:23-CV-1170
                   ______________________________

   Before Smith, Southwick, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
   Leslie H. Southwick: Circuit Judge:
          Before us is an emergency appeal by the State of Texas seeking to
   vacate a stay of execution entered by the district court. The issue on which
   the district court decided to enter a stay is whether the inmate is entitled to
   have DNA testing performed on certain evidence. The district court granted
   a stay because similar issues were pending before this court in a case brought
   by a different Texas prisoner. That related case is fully briefed and has been
   orally argued, and a decision in the case is pending. We agree with the district
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                                     No. 23-70005

   court that a stay is appropriate at least until a decision in that case. At that
   time, this court will order additional briefing.
          Before we discuss why we leave the stay in place at this time, we need
   to explain our jurisdiction. The dissent’s alternative opinion contains the
   same analysis, and we restate much of it here. The inmate, Jedidiah Murphy,
   somewhat surprisingly argues that we do not have jurisdiction to consider
   whether to leave the stay of execution in place. This circuit and others have
   said previously that we have jurisdiction to review a stay of execution on
   interlocutory appeal. Indeed, as defendants remind us, the practice is so
   commonplace that we have a circuit rule governing it. 5th Cir. R. 8. We
   discuss here why the practice is commonplace.
          The State brought this appeal asserting jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
   § 1292(a)(1). Generally, that section allows appeals from orders “granting,
   continuing, modifying, refusing or dissolving injunctions, or refusing” to
   enter such orders. Id. As our quotation reveals, Section 1292(a)(1) explicitly
   refers to injunctions. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court stated that it had “not
   allowed district courts to ‘shield [their] orders from appellate review’ by
   avoiding the label ‘injunction.’” Abbott v. Perez, 138 S. Ct. 2305, 2320 (2018)
   (quoting Sampson v. Murray, 415 U.S. 61, 87 (1974)). That means “where an
   order has the practical effect of granting or denying an injunction, it should
   be treated as such for purposes of appellate jurisdiction.” Id. at 2319.
          To explain, the Court stated that when “an interlocutory injunction is
   improperly granted or denied, much harm can occur before the final decision
   in the district court.” Id. Orders are “effectively injunctions” when they
   “barred” conduct at issue in the litigation. Id. A “stay” is more aptly applied
   to a court order that “operates upon the judicial proceeding itself, either by
   halting or postponing some portion of it, or by temporarily divesting an order
   of enforceability.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 434 (2009).

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          Here, the district court order bars Texas officials from carrying out
   “lawful and important conduct” because it prevents them from performing
   Murphy’s execution. See Abbott, 138 S. Ct. at 2319. Moreover, the district
   court’s order does not operate on the judicial proceeding but restricts the
   actions of specific defendants. That is the function of an injunction. We
   reject Murphy’s arguments that the defendants here, a police chief and
   prosecutor, are not in a position to cause or stop the execution from being
   carried out. The purpose and effect of the stay were to stop the execution.
          Consequently, we have jurisdiction to review the district court’s grant
   of a stay of execution. We have no cause to believe the district court was
   seeking to shield his order by calling it a stay, as that court likely recognized
   our jurisdiction to review. Now, to the request by the State to vacate.
          The background is that Jedidiah Murphy was convicted of the 2000
   murder of an 80-year-old woman, Bertie Cunningham. After the jury found
   him to be guilty of the offense, evidence of his future dangerousness was
   offered at sentencing. Among the evidence was testimony from the victim of
   another vicious crime who identified Murphy as her attacker. Murphy was
   not tried for that offense. Murphy is now seeking DNA testing of evidence
   from that other crime that he argues could exonerate him.
          One problem with this request is that the evidence that Murphy wants
   tested would not prove him innocent of the capital offense. It might
   undermine the specific testimony relevant to future dangerousness.          The
   Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, including in a recent decision involving
   Murphy, has made clear that the relevant statute providing for DNA testing
   “does not authorize testing when exculpatory testing results might affect
   only the punishment or sentence that [a defendant] received.” Murphy v.
   State, 2023 WL 6241994 at * 4 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 26, 2023) (quoting Ex
   parte Gutierrez, 337 S.W.3d 883, 901 (Tex. Crim App. 2011). Instead, such

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   evidence can be sought only to show that the inmate would not have been
   found guilty of the offense. Id.
          Murphy challenges the limitation of testing to evidence affecting guilt.
   A different district court agreed with a similar argument and declared that
   Texas must provide testing if a sufficient basis is shown that it would have
   affected sentencing and not just the finding of guilt. See Gutierrez v. Saenz,
   565 F. Supp. 3d 892, 911 (S.D. Tex. 2021). A Fifth Circuit panel heard oral
   argument in that case on September 20, 2023, and a decision on that appeal
   is pending. See Gutierrez v. Saenz, No. 21-70009.
          The district court relied on the pendency of a decision in Gutierrez as
   a reason to grant Murphy a stay of execution. See Murphy v. Jones, No. A-23-
   cv-01170-RP, slip op. at 5-6 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 6, 2023). Certainly, that appeal
   has similar issues that could affect the proper resolution in this case. Waiting
   for that decision is not required by any general procedural rule or by rules of
   this court. Nonetheless, in light of the fact that complete briefing and
   argument has occurred in Gutierrez, unlike the emergency-necessitated
   accelerated consideration here, we conclude we should wait for that decision
   unless there is some basis to distinguish the present appeal.
          A possible distinction concerns Murphy’s delay in filing for DNA
   testing. Nonetheless, delay also is a live issue in Gutierrez. Given that delay
   is a concern in both cases, and both Murphy and Gutierrez make the same
   constitutional challenge, we will consider all issues regarding the stay after
   the release of the opinion in Gutierrez.
          We enter no ruling on the motion to vacate the stay at this time.
   Therefore, the stay of execution will remain in effect. Once the opinion of
   this court issues in Gutierrez, we will order additional briefing on whether the
   stay should be vacated.

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          Judge Graves concurs in not making a ruling on the motion to
   vacate the stay at this time.

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   James E. Graves, Jr., Circuit Judge, specially concurring:
          I agree that the stay should remain in effect pending this court’s
   decision in Gutierrez v. Saenz, No. 21-70009, and additional briefing.
   However, I write separately to provide more explanation for my position and
   to briefly address portions of the dissenting opinion, which includes an
   attachment of a proposed majority opinion drafted by Judge Smith. I did not
   join that proposed opinion, in part, because the district court did not abuse
   its discretion in granting a stay of execution with regard to the DNA testing,
   and for various other reasons, including those discussed herein.
           Jedidiah Murphy went to trial for capital murder in 2001. Under
   Texas law, jurors in a capital murder trial in which the state seeks the death
   penalty must determine “whether there is a probability that the defendant
   would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing
   threat to society.” Tex. Code Crim. Proc., art. 37.071, § 2(b)(1). During the
   punishment phase, the prosecution presented evidence allegedly showing
   that Murphy committed acts of violence in committing other offenses,
   including the robbery and kidnapping of Sherryl Wilhelm and the robbery of
   Marjorie Ellis. 1 After hearing the evidence, the jury convicted Murphy and
   answered the punishment questions in the affirmative, requiring the trial
   court to sentence Murphy to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
   (TCCA) affirmed on direct appeal. See Murphy v. State, 112 S.W.3d 592
   (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (Murphy I).
           Relevant here, on March 24, 2023, Murphy filed a motion for DNA
   testing of the “evidence collected in the Wilhelm/Ellis robberies” in state
           _____________________
          1
            Contrary to the majority’s statement that the DNA evidence pertained to only
   one other offense, property belonging to Ellis was found in Wilhelm’s abandoned car. See
   Murphy v. State, No. AP-77,112, 2023 WL 6241994, *1 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 26, 2023)
   (Murphy II).

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                                          No. 23-70005

   court that he argued could be exculpatory and undermine the specific
   testimony relevant to future dangerousness. 2 See Murphy II, 2023 WL
   6241994, *3. The trial court denied the motion, finding that Murphy’s
   “request fails as a matter of law because he seeks to test only punishment-
   related evidence.” Id. On appeal, Murphy asserted that the exclusion of
   punishment-related evidence from Chapter 64 DNA testing should be
   reexamined under the 2003 statutory amendments to Chapter 64. The
   amendments to Article 64.03(a)(2)(A) deleted a requirement that the
   defendant show he would not have been “prosecuted” under the exculpatory
   evidence. The TCCA disagreed and affirmed the trial court on September
   26, 2023.
           That same day, Murphy filed a complaint in the district court under
   42 U.S.C. § 1983. Murphy asserted, in applicable part, that Article 64.03, as
   interpreted by the TCCA, violated his procedural due process rights by only
   allowing DNA testing of evidence relevant to conviction and not evidence
   pertaining to the punishment phase of trial. Murphy also argued that his right
   to challenge his sentence of death through a subsequent habeas petition was
   violated by Chapter 64, and he sought a stay of execution. The district court
   granted the stay, finding that Murphy had shown the requisite likelihood of
   success on the merits, the possibility of irreparable harm weighed heavily in
   Murphy’s favor, and the public interest would be best served by allowing
   time for the fair adjudication of these important issues. The district court
   also took into account that this court is presently considering Gutierrez.
   Texas appealed, asking this court to vacate the stay. A majority of the panel
   declined to do so, as discussed herein.

           _____________________
           2
             This was after the state moved to set an execution date but prior to the setting of
   the date of execution.

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          This court reviews a district court’s grant of a stay of execution under
   an abuse of discretion. See Adams v. Thaler, 679 F.3d 312, 318 (5th Cir. 2012).
   The factors a court must consider in deciding whether to grant a stay of
   execution require Murphy to demonstrate: (1) a likelihood of success on the
   merits; (2) a substantial threat of irreparable injury; (3) that the threatened
   injury outweighs any harm that will result if the stay is granted; and (4) that
   the stay will not disserve the public interest. See Murphy v. Collier, 919 F.3d
   913, 915 (5th Cir. 2019); see also Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 434 (2009).
   The first two factors are the most critical. See Crutsinger v. Davis, 930 F.3d
   705, 707 (5th Cir. 2019).
          The dissent states that the district court abused its discretion in
   finding that Murphy is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim. I disagree.
          Murphy asserts a facial challenge to Texas’ postconviction DNA
   testing procedures, asserting that Texas unconstitutionally violated his state-
   created right to challenge his death penalty conviction using DNA evidence.
   As the dissent concedes, Murphy would be able to satisfy the requirements
   through DNA Testing.           See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 64.01,
   art. 64.03(a)(2)(A). However, the TCCA interprets Article 64.03 to only
   allow the DNA testing of evidence relevant to Murphy’s conviction, and not
   evidence pertaining to the punishment phase. Thus, Murphy asserts that the
   TCCA wrongfully barred him from using DNA testing to demonstrate that
   he is innocent of the death penalty.
          The dissent acknowledges that because Texas creates a right to obtain
   evidence for post-conviction DNA testing, it must provide defendants with
   adequate procedures to vindicate that right. See Dist. Att’y’s Off. for Third
   Jud. Dist. v. Osborne, 557 U.S. 52, 72-74 (2009). However, the dissent then
   concludes that Murphy fails to make the necessary showing to successfully
   mount a facial challenge to the statute because he is unable to “‘establish that

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   no set of circumstances exists under which the Act would be valid.’ United
   States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987).” The dissent interprets this to
   mean that “Murphy must demonstrate that Article 11.071 section 5(a)(3)
   does not allow any criminal defendant to show he or she is innocent of the
   death penalty.” The dissent further states that Murphy cannot meet his
   burden because “Texas’ Court of Criminal Appeals regularly considers—
   and grants merits review of—applications under Article 11.071 in which a
   criminal defendant claims he or she is ineligible for the death penalty.” The
   dissent cites Ex parte Milam, No. WR-79,322-04, 2021 WL 197088, at *1
   (Tex. Crim. App. Jan. 15, 2021) (per curiam), and Ex parte Weathers, No.
   WR-64,302-02, 2012 WL 1378105, at *1 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 18, 2012) (per
   curiam) in support. The dissent then states that Murphy’s own habeas
   petitions, by virtue of raising ineffective assistance of counsel and other
   claims, “affirmatively demonstrated that section 5(a)(3) provides ample
   avenues for criminal defendants to show that they are innocent of the death
   penalty.”
          Murphy is challenging Article 64.03, but the dissent is erroneously
   analyzing Article 11.071. Murphy’s facial challenge is to the post-conviction
   DNA testing provision of Chapter 64, not the habeas procedure in a death
   penalty case of Chapter 11. The proper inquiry is not whether Article 11.071
   § 5(a)(3) does not allow any criminal defendant to show he is innocent of the
   death penalty, as the dissent states. The proper inquiry is whether any set of
   circumstances exist that would allow the use of post-conviction DNA testing
   on evidence used only for purposes of punishment or sentencing.
          The dissent also conflates simply being allowed to raise a claim with
   somehow being the equivalent of successfully establishing ineligibility for the
   death penalty. Further, the Supreme Court has said, “[i]n determining
   whether a law is facially invalid, we must be careful not to go beyond the
   statute’s facial requirements and speculate about hypothetical or imaginary

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   cases.” Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party, 552
   U.S. 442, 449-50 (2008) (internal marks and citation omitted); see also
   Freedom Path, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service, 913 F.3d 503, 508 (5th Cir.
   2019) (“We agree that a facial challenge to a statute considers only the text
   of the statute itself, not its application to the particular circumstances of an
   individual.”) (internal marks and citation omitted).
          Additionally, neither Milam, 2021 WL 197088, nor Weathers, 2012
   WL 1378105, which both considered habeas claims involving intellectual
   disability, offer support for the dissent’s erroneous characterization of the
   issue and standard. Moreover, in recent cases, this court has analyzed facial
   challenges without determining whether any set of circumstances exists
   under which the challenged act would be valid. See United States v. Rahimi,
   61 F.4th 443 (5th Cir. 2023); see also National Horsemen’s Benevolent and
   Protective Association v. Black, 53 F.4th 869 (5th Cir. 2022).
          The dissent next concludes that “Murphy fails to meet his burden to
   establish that Article 11.071 creates a substantive right to challenge a death
   penalty conviction with evidence that might persuade a jury to decline to
   impose the death penalty.” In doing so, the dissent disputes Murphy’s
   argument that Article 11.071 codifies language in Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S.
   333 (1992), where the Supreme Court said that “[s]ensible meaning is given
   to the term innocent of the death penalty by allowing a showing in addition
   to innocence of the capital crime itself a showing that there was no
   aggravating circumstance or that some other condition of eligibility had not
   been met.” 505 U.S. at 345. While acknowledging this definition, the dissent
   cites Ex parte Blue, 230 S.W.3d at 160 n.42, for the proposition that the
   TCCA “expressly declined to interpret Article 11.071 unequivocally to
   incorporate Sawyer in all its particulars.” But that is taken out of context.
   What the TCCA actually said, was that:

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                 Section 5(a)(3) of Article 11.071 represents the
          Legislature’s attempt to codify something very much like this
          federal doctrine of “actual innocence of the death penalty” for
          purposes of subsequent state writs. By tying the exception to
          the general prohibition on subsequent state writs specifically to
          the statutory special issues in Article 37.071 of the Code of
          Criminal Procedure, the Legislature apparently intended to
          codify, more or less, the doctrine found in Sawyer v. Whitley.
          This reading of the exception seems to limit its applicability to
          constitutional errors that affect the applicant’s eligibility for
          the death penalty under state statutory law.
   Blue , 230 S.W.3d at 160-61. Additionally, in footnote 42, the TCCA stated
   the portion quoted by the dissent in footnote 9 and then continued on to
   identify the portion of the federal doctrine of actual innocence in Sawyer that
   it was hesitant to codify as being “the so-called ‘mitigation’ special issue,
   embodied in Article 37.071, Section 2(e).” Id. at 161, n. 42. The court further
   explained that doing so would “permit a subsequent state habeas applicant
   to proceed under circumstances that would not excuse a federal petitioner
   under Sawyer v. Whitley. We need express no ultimate opinion on this
   question here.” Id. The mitigation special issue is inapplicable to Murphy.
          In the alternative, the dissent says that, even if Article 11.071 fully
   codifies Sawyer, Murphy’s claim still fails under Rocha v. Taylor, 626 F.3d
   815, 825-26 (5th Cir. 2010). However, again, the portion of Rocha that the
   dissent relies on pertains only to the mitigation special issue, as discussed
   above. The Rocha court said, “[t]he quality of the mitigation evidence the
   petitioner would have introduced at sentencing has no bearing on his claim
   of actual innocence of the death penalty.         Evidence that might have
   persuaded the jury to decline to impose the death penalty is irrelevant under
   Sawyer.” Id.

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            The dissent next concludes that Murphy misapplies Chapter 64 to
   Article 11.071 because his claim is belied by the text and structure of Article
   64.01.    The dissent’s discussion on this relies on various erroneous
   statements discussed herein and, thus, fares no better.

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   Jerry E. Smith, Circuit Judge, dissenting:
          The majority opinion is grave error. It succumbs to a vapid last-
   minute attempt to stay an execution that should have occurred decades ago.
          In the interest of time, instead of penning a long dissent pointing to
   the panel majority’s and district court’s myriad mistakes, I attach the Fifth
   Circuit panel opinion that should have been issued.
          I respectfully dissent.

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                                 No. 23-70005
                           Attachment to Dissent

           United States Court of Appeals
                for the Fifth Circuit
                              ____________

                               No. 23-70005
                              ____________

   Jedidiah Isaac Murphy,

                                                           Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                    versus

   Ali Mustapha Nasser,

                                          Defendant—Appellant.
                 ______________________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Western District of Texas
                           USDC No. 1:23-CV-1170
                 ______________________________

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                                     No. 23-70005

   Before Smith, Southwick, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
   Jerry E. Smith, Circuit Judge.
          Jedidiah Murphy is a prisoner on Texas death row who is scheduled
   to be executed on October 10, 2023. He has filed two eleventh-hour civil
   rights complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the Western District of Texas,
   one on October 4, 2023 (“the October complaint”), and the other on
   September 26, 2023 (“the September complaint”).               Each filing was
   accompanied by a motion for stay of execution to allow the litigation of these
   claims (the “September motion” and “October motion” respectively). The
   district court denied the October motion but granted the September motion
   and stayed the execution. Texas appeals and asks us to vacate the stay. As
   of this writing, Murphy has not appealed the denial of the October motion.
   For the reasons that follow, the district court abused its discretion in granting
   the September motion to stay execution because Murphy has failed to
   demonstrate that he is likely to succeed on the merits of any claim in the
   September complaint, and no other equitable factors weigh in his favor.
          Accordingly, we VACATE the stay of execution in No. 1:23-cv-1170.

                                          I.
          Murphy’s journey through the federal and state judicial systems has
   lasted over twenty years and is well documented in numerous opinions. See
   e.g., Murphy v. Davis, 901 F.3d 578 (5th Cir. 2018) (denying one of Murphy’s
   federal habeas corpus petitions). What follows is a brief recitation of the facts
   and procedural history needed to understand Murphy’s current § 1983
   actions and motions to stay his execution.
          In 2001, a jury convicted Murphy of capital murder, and Texas sought
   the death penalty. The jury could not impose the death penalty unless it
   found that “there [was] a probability that [Murphy] would commit criminal
   acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.” Tex.

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   Code Crim. Proc. art. 37.071(b)(1). One way—among many others—
   by which Texas attempted to show Murphy’s “future dangerousness” was
   to implicate him in a kidnapping case. The alleged victim of the kidnapping
   gave detailed testimony and identified Murphy as the perpetrator. Murphy
   attacked the credibility of the alleged victim and the reliability of her
   testimony, but the jury—after hearing additional evidence of future
   dangerousness—found that Murphy was a continuing threat to society and
   imposed the death penalty. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”)
   affirmed on direct appeal. See Murphy v. State, 112 S.W.3d 592 (Tex. Crim.
   App. 2003). Thus began a decades-long post-conviction journey.
          Murphy first sought state habeas relief based on new evidence that
   allegedly cast more doubt on the kidnapping victim’s identification; that
   litigation ended in 2012. Murphy then sought federal habeas relief on
   numerous grounds; that litigation ended in 2019. Murphy remained on death
   row.
          On March 24, 2023, Murphy filed a motion for post-conviction
   forensic DNA testing in state court. The trial court denied that motion, and
   the CCA affirmed on September 26, 2023, though Murphy contends that the
   mandate in that case has not yet issued. One day later, Murphy filed another
   state habeas petition accompanied by a motion to withdraw or modify his
   execution date. The trial court denied the motion to stay execution, and the
   CCA affirmed on October 5, 2023. 1
          Concurrently with this flurry of state court activity, Murphy filed two
   separate civil rights actions in the Western District of Texas under § 1983.
   The September complaint was filed on September 26, 2023. That complaint
   asserted four violations of Murphy’s federal rights. First, Murphy contended
          _____________________
          1
              We do not know whether the mandate has issued for that decision.

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   that Texas law has created a right to demonstrate innocence of the death
   penalty and that the state has violated the federal Constitution’s procedural
   due process protections by denying him access to DNA evidence that he
   could use to exercise that right. Second, Murphy posited that the restrictions
   on his access to DNA evidence unconstitutionally limit his ability to seek
   executive clemency. Third, Murphy averred that he has been deprived
   meaningful access to the courts. Fourth, and finally, Murphy alleged that
   18 U.S.C. § 3599(e) preempts the state-law restrictions on access to DNA
   evidence.
           Murphy’s October complaint was filed on October 4, 2023. It alleged
   four violations of his federal rights. First, he alleged a violation of his
   Fourteenth Amendment rights because Texas supposedly intends to execute
   him via lethal injection with expired drugs that have been damaged. Second,
   Murphy alleged that Texas is violating the due process and the equal
   protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution by violating state pharmaceutical
   laws concerning the storage of the lethal injection drugs. 2 Claims three and
   four of the October complaint mirror the September complaint’s allegations
   regarding deprivation of procedural due process and access to the courts. 3
           Murphy filed motions to stay his execution concurrently with each
   complaint. He asked the Western District of Texas to stay his execution to
   allow adjudication of his pending § 1983 claims. On October 6, 2023, the
   district court granted the September motion for stay, finding that Murphy’s
   procedural due process claim challenging Texas’s restrictions on DNA

           _____________________
           2
           This allegation is confusingly pled. The above is our own attempt to summarize
   what Murphy is pleading.
           3
             The October complaint includes a fifth “claim,” but that claim consists only of
   broadly worded statements that Murphy’s federal constitutional rights are being violated
   and that the federal courts must accordingly provide a remedy.

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                                         No. 23-70005

   evidence was likely to succeed on the merits. Also on October 6, the district
   court denied the October motion for stay, holding that all claims asserted in
   the October complaint were unlikely to be successful. Texas timely appealed
   the grant of the September motion. As of this writing Murphy has not
   appealed the denial of the October motion.

                                               II.
           “We review a district court’s grant of a stay of execution for abuse of
   discretion.” Adams v. Thaler, 679 F.3d 312, 318 (5th Cir. 2012). A “stay of
   execution is an equitable remedy” and “is not available as a matter of right.”
   Hill v. McDonough, 547 U.S. 573, 584 (2006). “The party requesting a stay
   bears the burden of showing that the circumstances can justify an exercise of
   [judicial] discretion.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 433–34 (2009). In
   deciding whether to grant a stay of execution, courts must consider four
   factors:
          (1) [W]hether the stay applicant has made a strong showing
          that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the
          applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether
          issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties
          interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest
          lies.
    Id. at 434 (quoting Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987)). 4

                                               III.
           We start, where we always must, with jurisdiction. Defendants
   contend that we have jurisdiction to review the stay of execution under
           _____________________
           4
             Murphy cites O’Bryan v. Estelle to contend that we must apply a more lenient
   standard where we ask only whether he can show “a substantial case on the merits when a
   serious legal question is involved.” 691 F.2d 706, 708 (5th Cir. 1982) (per curiam). But
   O’Brian pre-dated Nken, so its standard is inapplicable. Cf. Diaz v. Stephens, 731 F.3d 370,
   379 (2013) (applying the Nken factors when evaluating a motion to stay execution).

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   28 U.S.C. § 1292(a). Murphy responds that, because the district court
   entered a stay and not an injunction, the order is not immediately appealable,
   and we do not have jurisdiction to review it.
           As a general matter, “only final decisions of the federal district courts
   [are] reviewable on appeal.” Carson v. Am. Brands, Inc., 450 U.S. 79, 83
   (1981). But Congress has created exceptions to this general rule. One of
   these exceptions gives courts of appeals jurisdiction over “[i]nterlocutory
   orders of the district courts” that “grant[], continu[e], modify[], refus[e] or
   dissolv[e] injunctions.”     28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).        Though the text of
   § 1292(a)(1) refers expressly to injunctions, the Supreme Court has made
   clear that “district courts [cannot] shield [their] orders from appellate review
   by avoiding the label ‘injunction.’” Abbott v. Perez, 138 S. Ct. 2305, 2320
   (2018) (cleaned up). That means “where an order has the practical effect of
   granting or denying an injunction, it should be treated as such for purposes
   of appellate jurisdiction.” Id. at 2319.
           An order has the “practical effect” of an injunction if it would cause
   “lawful and important conduct [to] be barred.” Id. That stands in contrast
   to stays that “‘operate[] upon the judicial proceeding itself,’ [but] not on the
   conduct of a particular actor.” All. For Hippocratic Med. v. Food & Drug
   Admin., No. 23-10362, 2023 WL 2913725, at *4 (5th Cir. Apr. 12, 2023)
   (unpublished order) (quoting Nken, 556 U.S. at 434).
           Altho0ugh the district court used the word “stay” in its opinion, the
   order undoubtably has the practical effect of an injunction. The order bars
   Texas officials from carrying out “lawful and important conduct” because it
   prevents them from performing Murphy’s execution. See Perez, 138 S. Ct. at
   2319.    Moreover, the purported “stay” operates not on the judicial

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   proceeding, but to restrict the actions of specific defendants. 5 That is
   quintessentially the function of an injunction. Therefore, as our circuit and
   others have said previously, we have jurisdiction to review a stay of execution
   on interlocutory appeal. 6 Indeed, as defendants aptly point out, the practice
   is so commonplace that we have a circuit rule governing it. 5th Cir. R. 8.
   See also Adams, 679 F.3d at 314, 323 (vacating a stay of execution two days
   after it was issued). Consequently, we have jurisdiction to review the district
   court’s stay of execution.

                                                IV.
           We start with the September complaint, because the district court
   granted a stay of execution to allow Murphy to litigate the procedural due
   process claims raised in this complaint. Murphy contends that Chapter 64 of
   the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure is facially unconstitutional. He claims
   the State of Texas unconstitutionally violated his state-created right to
   challenge his death penalty conviction using DNA evidence. As we explain
   below, the district court abused its discretion in finding that Murphy’s
   procedural due process claim is likely to succeed on the merits.

           _____________________
           5
              Cf. All. For Hippocratic Med. v. Food & Drug Admin., 78 F.4th 210, 254 (5th Cir.
   2023) (“[U]nlike a preliminary injunction, a stay does not actively prohibit conduct.”),
   petition for cert. filed (U.S. Sept. 12, 2013) (No. 23-235), and petition for cert. filed (U.S.
   Sept. 12, 2013) (No. 23-236). Murphy contends that the district court’s order was not an
   injunction because the defendants in this case—the Arlington police chief and the
   prosecutor—are not among those who could be effectively enjoined from carrying out an
   execution in Texas. The question under Perez, however, is not whether the order was an
   injunction, but whether it had the practical effect of an injunction. The order was a stay, but
   since that stay had the practical effect of an injunction, we have jurisdiction to review it.
           6
             Cf. Cooey v. Strickland, 588 F.3d 921, 922–23 (6th Cir. 2009) (holding that a stay
   of execution had the “practical effect” of an injunction); Howard v. Dretke, 157 F. App’x
   667, 670 (5th Cir. 2005) (same); Mines v. Dretke, 118 F. App’x 806, 812 n.27 (5th Cir. 2007)
   (same).

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          Texas grants convicted defendants the right to seek relief through “a
   subsequent application for a writ of habeas corpus” upon a showing of
   “sufficient specific facts establishing . . . by clear and convincing evidence
   [that], but for a violation of the United States Constitution no rational juror
   would have answered in the state’s favor one or more of the special issues
   that were submitted to the jury in the applicant’s trial under Article 37.071,
   37.0711, or 37.072.” Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.071 § 5(a)(3).
          One way a defendant may satisfy Article 11.071’s requirements is with
   the use of DNA testing evidence. While there is no freestanding right for a
   convicted defendant to obtain evidence for post-conviction DNA testing,
   Dist. Atty’s Off. for Third Jud. Dist. v. Osborne, 557 U.S. 52, 72 (2009), states
   may create such a right. And that is the case for Texas. Under Chapter 64
   of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, a defendant may move for post-
   conviction DNA testing of evidence. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 64.01.
   To do so, Chapter 64 requires a “convicted person [to] establish[] by a
   preponderance of the evidence that . . . the person would not have been
   convicted if the exculpatory results had been obtained through DNA
   testing.” Id. art. 64.03(a)(2)(A).
          By creating a right to obtain evidence for post-conviction DNA
   testing, Texas must provide convicted defendants with adequate procedures
   to vindicate that right. Osborne, 557 U.S. at 72–74. Given that a defendant
   has “already been found guilty at a fair trial,” he “has only a limited interest
   in postconviction relief.” Id. at 69. So “‘when a state chooses to offer help
   to those seeking relief from convictions,’ due process does not ‘dictate the
   exact form such assistance must assume.’” Id. (quoting Pennsylvania v.
   Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 559 (1987)) (cleaned up). Texas’s procedures for
   postconviction relief do not violate due process rights if the procedure it
   offers does not “offend[] some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions
   and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental, or transgress[]

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   any recognized principle of fundamental fairness in operation.” Id. (internal
   quotations omitted).
          Murphy asserts Chapter 64 facially violates defendants’ procedural
   due process rights. Specifically, he theorizes that Article 11.07 section 5(a)(3)
   is rendered illusory because Chapter 64 bars the use of DNA testing to
   demonstrate a defendant is innocent of the death penalty. The district court
   determined that claim is likely to succeed on the merits because a district
   court in the Southern District of Texas had ruled in a prisoner’s favor on a
   similar issue and that case is currently on appeal with our court. That
   conclusion was an abuse of discretion for three reasons:
          First, Murphy’s procedural due process claim falters at the starting
   line because he fails to make the necessary showing successfully to mount a
   facial challenge to the statute. To prevail on a facial challenge, a challenger
   “must establish that no set of circumstances exists under which the Act
   would be valid.” United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). Thus,
   Murphy must demonstrate that Article 11.071 § 5(a)(3) does not allow any
   criminal defendant to show he or she is innocent of the death penalty.
   Murphy cannot meet this burden. The CCA regularly considers—and grants
   merits review of—applications under Article 11.071 in which a defendant
   claims he is ineligible for the death penalty. 7           Indeed, Murphy’s own
   subsequent habeas petitions fatally wound his instant facial challenge: By
   raising ineffective assistance of trial counsel, false testimony, suppression of
   exculpatory evidence, and Eighth Amendment claims under Article 11.071
   § 5(a)(3), he has affirmatively demonstrated that section 5(a)(3) provides
   ample avenues for defendants to show they are innocent of the death penalty.
          _____________________
          7
            See, e.g., Ex parte Milam, No. WR-79,322-04, 2021 WL 197088, at *1 (Tex. Crim.
   App. Jan. 15, 2021) (per curiam); Ex parte Weathers, No. WR-64,302-02, 2012 WL 1378105,
   at *1 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 18, 2012) (per curiam).

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   Consequently, Murphy’s facial challenge fails as a matter of law.
           Second, Murphy fails to meet his burden to establish that Article 11.071
   creates a substantive right to challenge a death penalty conviction with
   evidence that might persuade a jury to decline to impose the death penalty.
   Murphy asserts Article 11.071 codifies “the doctrine found in Sawyer v.
   Whitley.” 8 But Ex parte Blue—the very case Murphy cites—contradicts his
   assertion: There, the CCA expressly declined to interpret Article 11.071
   unequivocally to incorporate Sawyer in all its particulars. 9
           Regardless, assuming arguendo that Article 11.071 fully codifies Sawyer
   still does Murphy’s claim no good. “Evidence that might have persuaded
   the jury to decline to impose the death penalty is irrelevant under Sawyer”
   because it “has no bearing on [a criminal defendant’s] claim of actual
   innocence of the death penalty.” Rocha v. Thaler, 626 F.3d 815, 825–26 (5th
   Cir. 2010). Murphy seeks to use DNA evidence solely for the purpose of
   showing that he did not commit an extraneous offense the state presented in
   support of the future-dangerousness special issue. But that claim—even if
   supported by the DNA evidence—would not have changed Murphy’s
   eligibility for the death penalty; at best, it would only make the death penalty
   a less suitable punishment.
           The state presented multiple independent pieces of aggravating
   evidence from which the jury found a probability that Murphy would be a
           _____________________
           8
            The Court in Sawyer defined the term “innocent of the death penalty” to include
   both “innocence of the capital crime itself” and “a showing that there was no aggravating
   circumstance or that some other condition of eligibility had not been met.” 505 U.S. 333,
   345 (1992).
           9
             Ex parte Blue, 230 S.W.3d at 160 n.42 (“We hesitate to declare that Article 11.071,
   Section 5(a)(3) wholly codifies the Supreme Court’s doctrine of ‘actual innocence of the
   death penalty,’ even inasmuch as it has tied the exception to the bar on subsequent writs to
   the statutory criteria for the death penalty under Article 37.071.”).

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   future danger. That aggregating evidence includes Murphy’s record of theft
   convictions, testimony about a domestic-abuse call involving him and his
   girlfriend, a witness who testified that he pulled a gun on her at a high school
   party, testimony from one of his former coworkers, the results of his
   Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-II test, and his murder of
   eighty-year-old Bertie Cunningham. 10 Thus, even under his erroneous
   interpretation of Article 11.071, Murphy still fails to show the DNA testing
   he seeks would make him innocent of the death penalty. 11
           Third, Murphy misapplies Chapter 64 to Article 11.071. His claim—
   that Chapter 64 precludes him from challenging his death sentence by
   denying the DNA testing he seeks—is belied by the text and structure of the
   statute. Chapter 64 allows a convicted person to “submit to the convicting
   court a motion for forensic DNA testing of evidence,” Tex. Code Crim.
   Proc. art. 64.01, which would, in turn, allow the convicting court to “order
   forensic DNA testing” provided certain statutory conditions are met, id.
   art. 64.03(a).
           The statute thus creates an additional mechanism by which a
   defendant can obtain potentially exculpatory DNA test results. DNA testing
   results obtained through Chapter 64 could be used as part of a defendant’s
   Article 11.071 application to show there are “sufficient specific facts
   establishing that . . . by clear and convincing evidence, but for a violation of
   the United States Constitution no rational juror would have answered in the

           _____________________
           10
             Davis, 901 F.3d at 583, 585; see also Guevara v. State, 97 S.W.3d 579, 581 (Tex.
   Crim. App. 2003) (noting that “[t]he facts of the crime alone can be sufficient to support
   the affirmative finding to the future dangerousness special issue”).
           11
            See Rocha, 626 F.3d at 825 (“The quality of the mitigation evidence the petitioner
   would have introduced at sentencing has no bearing on his claim of actual innocence of the
   death penalty.”).

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                                    No. 23-70005

   state’s favor one or more of the special issues that were submitted to the jury
   in the applicant's trial under Article 37.071, 37.0711, or 37.072.”         Id.
   art. 11.071 § 5(a)(3).
          But Article 11.071 certainly doesn’t require that DNA test results
   come exclusively from a defendant’s Chapter 64 motion. Section 5(a)
   requires that a subsequent habeas application “contain[] sufficient specific
   facts,” and that neither favors nor disfavors Chapter 64 DNA test results
   over DNA test results obtained through other means. In sum, Chapter 64—
   contrary to Murphy’s assertion—expands the available sources of evidence
   convicted defendants may use in their subsequent habeas petitions.
   Consequently, Murphy has failed to identify any facial constitutional
   infirmity.
          The district court ignored all this authority and instead relied solely
   on Gutierrez v. Saenz, 565 F. Supp. 3d 892 (S.D. Tex. 2021). The court in
   Gutierrez first observed that Article 11.071 “grants the substantive right to
   file a second habeas petition with a clear and convincing showing of
   innocence of the death penalty.” Id. at 910. It then found that “Chapter 64
   denies the petitioner access to DNA evidence by which a person can avail
   himself of that right” and violates a petitioner’s procedural due process
   rights. Id. at 910–11.
          The district court abused its discretion in relying exclusively on
   Gutierrez. That case cites Rocha for the proposition that the CCA construed
   “Article 11.071 . . . to mean that petitioners must make a threshold showing
   that the applicant is actually innocent of the death penalty.” Id. But Rocha
   obligates us “to construe and apply section 5(a)(3) as the [CCA] construes
   and applies it.” 626 F.3d at 822. Gutierrez disregards that command; it fails
   to cite any case in which the CCA has held that Article 11.071 creates a
   substantive right to challenge a death penalty conviction with evidence that

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   might persuade a jury to decline to impose the death penalty. Thus, the
   district court could not have relied on Gutierrez’s reasoning to conclude that
   Murphy had met his burden of showing a cognizable liberty or property
   interest—as is necessary for a procedural due process claim. See Richardson
   v. Hughs, 978 F.3d 220, 229 (5th Cir. 2020).
          Furthermore, the defendant in Gutierrez sought DNA evidence under
   Chapter 64 to demonstrate innocence of the death penalty by casting doubt
   on whether he had committed the underlying crime for which he was
   convicted. 12 He wanted DNA evidence to show that he was not in the home
   of the victim at the time of the murder. That means the DNA evidence
   sought in Gutierrez would provide evidence directly relevant to the degree of
   culpability of the crime for which he was being sentenced. Here, in contrast,
   Murphy seeks DNA evidence not to challenge his guilt of the underlying
   crime, but to show that he did not commit an extraneous offense the state
   presented in support of the future-dangerousness special issue.
          That factual distinction makes all the difference: As we explained
   above, “[e]vidence that might have persuaded the jury to decline to impose
   the death penalty . . . has no bearing on [a criminal defendant’s] claim of
   actual innocence of the death penalty.”            Rocha, 626 F.3d at 825–26.
   Therefore, even if Gutierrez was correctly decided, it is not applicable to
   Murphy’s situation because Murphy is not attempting to demonstrate
   innocence of the death penalty by attacking his underlying conviction.
   Rather, the DNA evidence he seeks is relevant to the special issue on future
   dangerousness, which encompasses a much broader category of potential

          _____________________
          12
             See Ex parte Gutierrez, 337 S.W.3d 883, 888 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (noting
   Gutierrez’s argument that “exculpatory DNA test results . . . would show, by a
   preponderance of the evidence, that he would not have been convicted of capital
   murder.”).

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   evidence.
           Despite Gutierrez’s non-binding nature as an opinion from a district
   court, and further despite its questionable reasoning and inapplicability to our
   facts, the district court à quo used Gutierrez to conclude that Murphy has
   shown a likelihood of success on the merits because the issue Murphy seeks
   a stay of execution to litigate is now on appeal before our court. Rank
   speculation about the potential outcome of a case pending appeal does not
   support the district court’s finding of a likelihood of success on the merits. 13
   The district court abused its discretion by relying on the fact that Gutierrez is
   pending on appeal to grant a stay of execution.
           Even if our precedent allowed the district court to rely on a pending
   appeal, the unique procedural history of Gutierrez counsels strongly against
   doing so in this case. In 2020, Gutierrez sought a stay of execution so he
   could litigate “the constitutionality of Chapter 64 of the Texas Code of
   Criminal Procedure” and Texas’s “policy refusing to allow chaplains to
   accompany inmates into the execution chamber itself.” Gutierrez v. Saenz,
   818 Fed. App’x 309, 311 (5th Cir. 2020). The district court granted a stay of
   execution, but our court reversed. Id. at 313. We rejected Gutierrez’s facial
   and as-applied procedural due process challenges to Chapter 64 as well as his
   spiritual-advisor claim. Id. at 312.              The Supreme Court then granted
   certiorari, vacated, and remanded for further consideration of the spiritual-
   advisor claim. See Gutierrez v. Saenz, 141 S. Ct. 1260, 1260 (2021).

           _____________________
           13
              Cf. Wicker v. McCotter, 798 F.2d 155, 158 (5th Cir. 1986) (“In the absence of a
   declaration by the [higher court] that the executions should be stayed in cases presenting
   the issue raised by [Murphy], we must follow our circuit’s precedents and deny . . . a stay
   of execution on this issue.”); Moreno v. Collins, No. 94-50026, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS
   41477, at *3 (5th Cir. Jan. 17, 1994) (per curiam) (“[T]he grant of certiorari by the United
   States Supreme Court to review an issue settled in this circuit does not itself require a stay
   of execution.”).

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          On remand, Gutierrez again challenged Chapter 64, and the district
   court again ruled in his favor. Gutierrez, 565 F. Supp. 3d at 908. The
   Gutierrez district court distinguished our earlier reasoning on the sole basis
   that Gutierrez’s new Chapter 64 claim was “legally distinct” from the one
   we had rejected because the new claim challenged Chapter 64’s denial of
   evidence “that would demonstrate he is innocent of the death penalty,”
   whereas the claim we had ruled on previously challenged Chapter 64’s denial
   of evidence that would “demonstrate innocence of capital murder.” See id.
          We do not, and cannot, know how our court will ultimately resolve
   Gutierrez. But the difference between Gutierrez’s rejected Chapter 64 claim
   and his current one is so small that it cannot be fairly said that the pending
   appeal gives Murphy a likelihood of success in this case.
          Finally, the district court also determined that the possibility of
   irreparable harm weighs heavily in Murphy’s favor. It is true that this factor
   typically favors the movant in a capital case. See O’Bryan, 691 F.2d at 708.
   However, the procedural posture of this case is unique. The CCA denied
   Murphy’s request for DNA testing both because Chapter 64 bars it as a
   matter of law and because Murphy had unreasonably delayed in requesting
   DNA testing. See Murphy v. State, No. AP-77,112, 2023 WL 6241994, at *4–
   5 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 26, 2023). This second holding is crucial because,
   even if the application of Chapter 64 violates Murphy’s procedural due
   process rights, he still would not be entitled to the DNA testing he seeks
   under the state court’s alternative holding of unreasonable delay.
          Therefore, the district court erred in concluding that Murphy would
   suffer irreparable harm in not being able to pursue his procedural due process
   claims. Rather, the balance of equities weighs against granting Murphy’s
   motion for stay of execution: Both the state and victims of crime have a
   “powerful and legitimate interest in punishing the guilty.” Calderon v.

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   Thompson, 523 U.S. 538, 556 (1998) (internal quotations omitted). And
   “[b]oth the State and the victims of crime have an important interest in the
   timely enforcement of a [death] sentence.” Bucklew v. Precythe, 139 S. Ct.
   1112, 1133 (2019) (internal quotations omitted).                Even apart from the
   likelihood-of-success inquiry, the district court abused its discretion in
   concluding the balance of equities weighs in favor of granting Murphy’s
   motion for stay of execution.

                                              V.
           It does not appear that the district court relied on any other claim in
   Murphy’s September complaint when granting the stay of execution. To the
   extent that it did, it abused its discretion because none of Murphy’s other
   claims is likely to succeed.
           First, Murphy contends Chapter 64 unconstitutionally limits his
   ability to seek executive clemency. Problematically for him, Murphy’s claim
   is premised on his assumption that Chapter 64 facially violates defendants’
   procedural due process rights under Article 11.071. But as we have already
   explained, that assumption holds no water. If anything, Chapter 64 makes it
   easier for convicted defendants to seek executive clemency since it expands
   the avenues by which a defendant may obtain DNA test results.
   Furthermore, Murphy fails to cite any case in which the denial of DNA
   testing violated a defendant’s procedural due process right to present a
   clemency claim. 14 Murphy has therefore failed to bear his burden of proving
   that any procedural due process violation exists. 15

           _____________________
           14
              Nor is there a substantive due process right to executive clemency. See Conn.
   Bd. of Pardons v. Dumschat, 452 U.S. 458, 464 (1981).
           15
             See Richardson, 978 F.3d at 229 (noting plaintiff bears the burden of establishing
   a cognizable liberty or property interest to state a procedural due process claim).

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           Next, Murphy contends the denial of DNA testing deprives him of his
   right to adequate, effective, and meaningful access to the courts. That
   contention lacks merit. The right of access to the courts does not include the
   ability “to discover grievances[] and to litigate effectively once in court.” 16
   Murphy seeks to compel the state to provide DNA testing on the mere hope
   that its results would support some speculative and hypothetical claim in the
   future. That is nothing more than an attempt “to discover grievances.”
   Casey, 518 U.S. at 354 (emphasis removed).
           A request for DNA testing, by itself, does not tend to prove or
   disprove Murphy’s claim that he is innocent of the death penalty. The DNA
   testing “may prove exculpatory, inculpatory, or inconclusive. In no event
   will a judgment that simply orders DNA tests necessarily impl[y] the
   unlawfulness of the State’s custody.” Skinner v. Switzer, 562 U.S. 521, 525
   (2011) (internal quotations omitted). As a result, Murphy fails to show he
   has been denied his right of access to the courts.
           Finally, Murphy contends 18 U.S.C. § 3599(e) entitles him to
   representation through all available post-conviction process, including
   applications for stays of execution and clemency proceedings. There is no
   merit to Murphy’s final theory. That statute “authorizes federal courts to
   provide funding to a party who is facing the prospect of a death sentence and
   is ‘financially unable to obtain adequate representation or investigative,
   expert, or other reasonably necessary services.’” Ayestas v. Davis, 138 S. Ct.
   1080, 1092 (2018) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3599(a)(1)). It is merely a funding
   law and “not a law that grants federal courts authority to oversee the scope
   and nature of federally funded legal representation.” Beatty v. Lumpkin,
           _____________________
           16
              Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 354 (1996); see Whitaker v. Livingston, 732 F.3d 465,
   467 (5th Cir. 2013) (per curiam) (“One is not entitled to access the courts merely to argue
   that there might be some remote possibility of some constitutional violation.”).

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   52 F.4th 632, 634 (5th Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 143 S. Ct. 416 (2022).
          For these reasons, Murphy has failed to show a likelihood of success
   on the merits on any claim in his September complaint. To the extent the
   district court relied on any claim other that the Chapter 64 challenge in
   granting the September motion to stay, it abused its discretion.
                                    * * * * *
          Accordingly, the district court abused its discretion in granting
   Murphy’s September motion to stay execution. Accordingly, we VACATE
   the stay of execution entered in No. 1:23-cv-1170. The mandate shall issue
   forthwith.

                                         31