Filed: Jul. 20, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS July 20, 2007 TENTH CIRCUIT Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court BR YAN LEE BR OYLES, Petitioner - A ppellant, No. 06-3403 v. (D. Kansas) DA VID R . M cKU NE; ATTO RN EY (D.C. No. 05-CV-3445-W EB) GEN ERAL O F KANSAS, Respondents - Appellees. OR DER DENY ING CERTIFICATE O F APPEALABILITY Before L UC ER O, HA RTZ, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges. On July 19, 1999, an information was filed against Bryan L. Broyles
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS July 20, 2007 TENTH CIRCUIT Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court BR YAN LEE BR OYLES, Petitioner - A ppellant, No. 06-3403 v. (D. Kansas) DA VID R . M cKU NE; ATTO RN EY (D.C. No. 05-CV-3445-W EB) GEN ERAL O F KANSAS, Respondents - Appellees. OR DER DENY ING CERTIFICATE O F APPEALABILITY Before L UC ER O, HA RTZ, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges. On July 19, 1999, an information was filed against Bryan L. Broyles i..
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F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS
July 20, 2007
TENTH CIRCUIT Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
BR YAN LEE BR OYLES,
Petitioner - A ppellant, No. 06-3403
v. (D. Kansas)
DA VID R . M cKU NE; ATTO RN EY (D.C. No. 05-CV-3445-W EB)
GEN ERAL O F KANSAS,
Respondents - Appellees.
OR DER DENY ING CERTIFICATE O F APPEALABILITY
Before L UC ER O, HA RTZ, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.
On July 19, 1999, an information was filed against Bryan L. Broyles in
Greenwood County, Kansas, alleging that he had killed his infant son Hagen Lee
Broyles. He was convicted by a Kansas state jury of first degree felony murder
and sentenced to life imprisonment. He appealed his conviction to the Kansas
Supreme Court, where he argued, among other things, that the prosecutor had
engaged in misconduct and that cumulative error required a new trial. The court
rejected these arguments. See State v. Broyles,
36 P.3d 259 (Kan. 2001). He then
collaterally attacked his conviction in state court, alleging ineffective assistance
of counsel. After an evidentiary hearing the court denied relief, and the Kansas
Court of Appeals affirmed.
M r. Broyles then sought relief in the United States District Court for the
District of Kansas under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, and the district court denied the
application. The court also denied his application for a certificate of appealability
(C OA), see 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c) (requiring COA to appeal denial of § 2254
application). Although he has not requested a certificate of appealability from
this court, he has filed a notice of appeal, which we construe as a request for such
a certificate. See U nited States v. M endoza,
118 F.3d 707, 709 n.3 (10th Cir.
1997) (appeal of district court judgment may be construed as motion for
certificate of appealability). He asserts before us that (1) his counsel was
ineffective; (2) the prosecutor’s misconduct during his trial denied him due
process and a fair trial; and (3) cumulative error denied him due process. W e
deny a COA and dismiss the appeal.
A COA will issue “only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of
the denial of a constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). This standard
requires “a demonstration that . . . includes showing 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. M cDaniel,
529 U.S. 473,
484 (2000) (internal quotation marks omitted). In other words, an applicant must
show that the district court’s resolution of the constitutional claim was either
“debatable or wrong.”
Id.
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The A ntiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)
provides that when a claim has been adjudicated on the merits in state court, a
federal court will grant habeas relief only when the applicant establishes that the
state-court decision was “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of,
clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the
United States,” or “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in
light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254(d)(1), (2). As we have explained:
Under the “contrary to” clause, we grant relief only if the state court
arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the Supreme Court
on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently
than the [Supreme] Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable
facts. Under the “unreasonable application” clause, relief is provided
only if the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle
from the Supreme Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that
principle to the facts of the prisoner's case. Thus we may not issue a
habeas writ simply because we conclude in our independent judgment
that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established
federal law erroneously or incorrectly. Rather, that application must
also be unreasonable.
Gipson v. Jordan,
376 F.3d 1193, 1196 (10th Cir.2004) (brackets, citations and
internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, because M r. Broyles’s claims were
adjudicated on the merits in state court, “A EDPA’s deferential treatment of state
court decisions must be incorporated into our consideration of [his] request for
COA.” Dockins v. Hines,
374 F.3d 935, 938 (10th Cir .2004).
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W e have review ed the district court’s thorough opinion. No reasonable
jurist could debate its analysis of the issues. W e add only one comment. In his
brief to this court M r. Broyles argues that his counsel was ineffective for not
presenting the testimony of the child’s mother that she had observed bruising
when she picked him up from day care. But he does not show how this contention
was preserved in state court or federal district court. M oreover, the trial
transcript contains the mother’s testimony about these injuries.
W e DENY M r. Broyle’s application for a COA and DISM ISS the appeal.
W e GRANT his motion to proceed in form a pauperis.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Harris L Hartz
Circuit Judge
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