Filed: Aug. 14, 2001
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 14 2001 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk DENNIS LUCERO, Petitioner-Appellant, No. 00-1492 v. (D.C. No. 00-Z-2018) JOHN W. SUTHERS and ATTORNEY (D. Colo.) GENERAL OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, Respondents-Appellees. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before SEYMOUR and McKAY, Circuit Judges, and BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge. After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 14 2001 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk DENNIS LUCERO, Petitioner-Appellant, No. 00-1492 v. (D.C. No. 00-Z-2018) JOHN W. SUTHERS and ATTORNEY (D. Colo.) GENERAL OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, Respondents-Appellees. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before SEYMOUR and McKAY, Circuit Judges, and BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge. After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral ..
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F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
AUG 14 2001
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
DENNIS LUCERO,
Petitioner-Appellant, No. 00-1492
v. (D.C. No. 00-Z-2018)
JOHN W. SUTHERS and ATTORNEY (D. Colo.)
GENERAL OF THE STATE OF
COLORADO,
Respondents-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before SEYMOUR and McKAY, Circuit Judges, and BRORBY, Senior Circuit
Judge.
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this panel has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G).
The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
State prisoner Dennis Lucero seeks to appeal from the dismissal of his 28
U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. Petitioner pleaded guilty to second degree murder
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
and aggravated robbery, for which he was sentenced to consecutive terms of thirty
and sixteen years’ imprisonment, respectively. Petitioner sought a writ of habeas
corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, alleging
that his due process and equal protection rights were violated because he was
sentenced to consecutive rather than concurrent terms. The district court denied
the petition, holding that Petitioner had filed the petition well after the one-year
statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) and had not shown the
extraordinary circumstances necessary to invoke an equitable tolling of the
statute. The court subsequently denied Petitioner’s Rule 59(c) motion to alter or
amend the judgment, and further declined to grant a certificate of appealability
required by 18 U.S.C. § 2253(c) to appeal the dismissal of a § 2254 petition.
Petitioner then applied to this court for a certificate of appealability.
In order for this court to grant a certificate of appealability, Petitioner must
make a “substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. §
2253(c)(2). To do so, Petitioner must demonstrate that “reasonable jurists could
debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have been
resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were adequate to
deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Slack v. McDaniel,
529 U.S. 473,
484 (2000) (quotations omitted).
It is true that Ҥ 2244(d) is not jurisdictional and as a limitation may be
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subject to equitable tolling.” Miller v. Marr,
141 F.3d 976, 978 (10th Cir.), cert.
denied,
525 U.S. 891 (1998). However, equitable tolling is available only in
extraordinary or exceptional circumstances, and it has historically been limited to
situations where the petitioner “has actively pursued his judicial remedies by
filing a defective proceeding during the statutory period, or where the [petitioner]
has been induced or tricked by his adversary’s misconduct into allowing the filing
deadline to pass.” Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs,
498 U.S. 89, 96
(1990) (footnotes omitted). We have also indicated that actual innocence may be
grounds for equitable tolling of the § 2244(d)(1) limitations period. See
Miller,
141 F.3d at 978.
Petitioner does not allege that he filed a defective proceeding, was induced
by misconduct, or is innocent of the charges brought against him. Instead,
Petitioner claims that two circumstances demand equitable tolling: (1) his
attorney allegedly failed to inform him that his motion for reconsideration was
denied, which constituted ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the
Sixth Amendment; and (2) he was incarcerated in a Texas prison during the same
time period without access to his personal legal documents and Colorado legal
materials, which resulted in a denial of legal access in violation of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Petitioner’s claim of constitutional harm by the ineffective assistance of
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counsel regarding his motion for reconsideration fails because there is no
constitutional right to counsel on discretionary appeals. See Pennsylvania v.
Finley,
481 U.S. 551, 555 (1987). Moreover, we do not consider that alleged
ineffectiveness so extraordinary or prejudicial as to warrant equitable tolling.
Regarding Petitioner’s second argument, we have previously rejected a habeas
petitioner’s request for equitable tolling when the petitioner merely alleged that
his transfer to another state’s prison prohibited him from access to the relevant
statutes and case law. See
Miller, 141 F.3d at 978. Such transfers have become
commonplace, and transferee facilities almost universally retain sufficient
information to allow prisoners to submit habeas claims. Petitioner here, as in
Miller, is unspecific about either the lack of access or how it affected his ability
to file a timely petition. See
id.
Following careful review of Petitioner’s briefs, the disposition of the
district court, and the record on appeal, we cannot say that “reasonable jurists
could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have
been resolved in a different manner.”
Slack, 529 U.S. at 484 (quotations
omitted).
Accordingly, we DENY Petitioner's request to proceed in forma pauperis on
appeal, DENY him a certificate of appealability, and DISMISS the appeal.
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Entered for the Court
Monroe G. McKay
Circuit Judge
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