Hassan RIZK, Petitioner-Appellant, v. John PRELESNIK, Respondent-Appellee, 487 F. App'x 285

OPINION BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge. Hassan Rizk filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, alleging numerous constitutional violations arising from his conviction for the murder of Sharon Rouse. The district court denied his petition for lack of discernible constitutional error and also denied his motion for a certificate of appealability (COA). We issued a COA to review the district court’s decision regarding Rizk’s Fifth Amendment claim, which arose from his pre-arrest silence.

A review of the record, the parties’ briefs, and the applicable law reveals that a panel opinion further addressing the issue would serve no jurisprudential purpose. In granting the COA, we recognized that the admissibility of pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence was an “unsettled” matter among the federal courts. This case, however, is an ill-suited vehicle for revisiting that question, in light of AEDPA’s jurisdictional constraints. Accordingly, we AFFIRM for the reasons stated in the district court’s opinion.