Background
Kevin A. Larson, a Colorado prisoner, was convicted of five crimes involving sexual abuse and exploitation of a minor after withdrawing a plea agreement. He sought post-conviction relief and filed a petition under Section twenty-two hundred and fifty-four of Title twenty-eight of the United States Code. The district court denied his petition and a certificate of appealability, which he now seeks from this court.
The court’s reasoning
The court applied the standard requiring a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. It found that the state courts reasonably excluded evidence of alternate suspects as speculative and that the trial court correctly allowed the victim’s mother to invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Regarding ineffective assistance of counsel, the court held that counsel was not deficient for failing to object to a sentencing enhancement based on Alleyne versus United States, as that argument was novel and not supported by controlling precedent at the time.
What it means going forward
The denial of the certificate of appealability prevents Mr. Larson from appealing the district court’s denial of his habeas petition to the Tenth Circuit.