[NOT FOR PUBLICATION--NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT] United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 99-1215

IN RE: YAMIL H. KOURI-PEREZ,

Petitioner.

PETITION FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Jose Antonio Fuste, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Selya, Circuit Judge, Coffin, Senior Circuit Judge, and Cyr, Senior Circuit Judge.

Benny Frankie Cerezo and Law Offices Benny Frankie Cerezo on Petition for Writ of Mandamus for petitioner.

February 26, 1999

Per Curiam. Upon careful review of the petition for mandamus and the urgent motion for stay, we are not persuaded to grant the extraordinary writ. Petitioner does not have a "clear and indisputable" entitlement to relief, and we do not find that equitable factors or risk of irreparable harm weigh in his favor. See In re Martinez-Catala,

(1st Cir. 1997). Specifically, in the context of this mandamus review, we cannot say that the judge was required to recuse. We would reach the same conclusion whether applying the standard of 28 U.S.C. 144 actually invoked by petitioner, or applying the standards of 28 U.S.C. 455(a) and 455(b)(1) additionally mentioned by the district court. Taking petitioner's averments as true, and considering any extrajudicial circumstances along with the events of the instant case, still we cannot say that petitioner made a clear and indisputable showing of personal bias or prejudice, nor did he raise a reasonable question as to the judge's impartiality. The petition for writ of mandamus is denied. The motion for stay is moot.

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