Background
A Colorado jury convicted the petitioner of stalking, harassment, and violating a protection order. The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions, and the Colorado Supreme Court denied certiorari. The petitioner then filed a federal habeas corpus application under Section twenty-eight U.S.C. Section two thousand two hundred fifty-four, raising claims regarding the First Amendment, ineffective assistance of counsel, and the Double Jeopardy Clause. The district court denied several claims as untimely and others as unexhausted and procedurally barred.
The court’s reasoning
To obtain a certificate of appealability, the petitioner must make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. When a habeas application is denied on procedural grounds, the petitioner must show that reasonable jurists could debate whether the application states a valid constitutional claim and whether the procedural ruling was correct. The petitioner made no argument addressing the district court’s dismissal on procedural grounds, thereby waiving any argument for granting the certificate. Upon review, the court concluded that reasonable jurists would not debate the correctness of the district court’s procedural ruling.
What it means going forward
The dismissal prevents the petitioner from appealing the district court’s denial of his habeas application to the Tenth Circuit.
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