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WHITE v. FARRIS (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.2021-09-16No. No. 21-7028

Summary

Holding. The court declined to issue a certificate of appealability and dismissed the appeal because the petitioner's conviction challenge was waived by his failure to present it in his original habeas petition.

A prisoner appealed the denial of his habeas petition, which had originally challenged prison conditions and a prison transfer denial. On appeal, he abandoned those original claims and instead raised new arguments attacking his underlying state conviction. To proceed with such an appeal, federal rules require a certificate of appealability, which can only be granted if the appellant presents a reasonably debatable issue. The court found that because the conviction challenge was never included in the original habeas petition filed in district court, the claim was waived and therefore could not qualify as reasonably debatable.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether a certificate of appealability should issue for claims not raised in the original habeas petition
  • Whether waived claims can constitute reasonably debatable appeal points
  • Waiver of appellate claims through failure to present them at the district court level

Procedural posture

This is an appeal from a district court's denial of habeas relief, requiring the petitioner to obtain a certificate of appealability before proceeding.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

ORDER

This case involves an appeal from the denial of habeas relief. The petitioner sought habeas relief, complaining of prison conditions and the refusal to transfer him to a Canadian prison. On appeal, however, he abandons the claims asserted in district court and challenges his underlying conviction in state court. To pursue the appeal, the petitioner needs a certificate of appealability. We can grant a certificate only upon the presentation of a reasonably debatable appeal point. Laurson v. Leyba, 507 F.3d 1230, 1232 (10th Cir. 2007). We decline to issue a certificate of appealability. With no certificate, we dismiss the matter. The petitioners appellate arguments are not reasonably debatable because he has waived the underlying claims. He did not present any of these claims in his habeas petition. So the district court never had an opportunity to consider these claims. Because these claims did not appear in the habeas petition, we consider these claims “waived.” Owens v. Trammell, 792 F.3d 1234, 1246 (10th Cir. 2015). Because these claims are waived, they cannot be considered “reasonably debatable” in an appeal. See Childers v. Crow, 1 F.4th 792, 799–800 (10th Cir. 2021) (stating that because the underlying habeas claim had been omitted in the habeas petition, a certificate of appealability should not have been granted). 1

* * *

With no reasonably debatable appeal point, we

• decline to issue a certificate of appealability and

• dismiss this matter.2

FOOTNOTES

1

.   Because the petitioner did not challenge the conviction in district court, the record on appeal contains no information about his criminal proceedings or any state-court appeals. We thus have no information to guide us in considering the petitioners newly presented claims.

2

.   We grant Mr. Whites request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.

Robert E. Bacharach, Circuit Judge