Cotner v. Attorney General-OK ( 1998 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JAN 8 1998
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
ROBERT E. COTNER,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 96-5269
(D.C. No. 94-CV-323)
MICHAEL CODY, Warden; (N.D. Okla.)
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
STATE OF OKLAHOMA,
Respondents-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before KELLY, McKAY, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and 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); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the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.
Petitioner Robert E. Cotner seeks leave to appeal from the district court’s
order dismissing without prejudice his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under
28 U.S.C. § 2254 for failure to exhaust state remedies. We construe his
application for a certificate of appealability as one for probable cause, 1 deny that
application, and dismiss the appeal.
Cotner was convicted in 1992, in case No. CRF-91-194 in the District
Court of Creek County, Oklahoma, of (1) possession of a controlled drug with
intent to distribute, after former conviction of one drug related felony; (2)
possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, after former conviction of one
drug related felony; (3) failure to affix a tax stamp, after former conviction of two
felonies; (4) weapon use in the commission of a crime, after former conviction of
1
The Supreme Court recently held that the new provisions of Chapter 153 of
Title 28 of the United States Code, which includes § 2253(c) requiring certificates
of appealability, added by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of
1996 (AEDPA), are generally not applicable to cases filed before AEDPA’s
effective date, April 24, 1996. See Lindh v. Murphy, 117 S. Ct. 2059, 2068
(1997). Thus, Lennox v. Evans, 87 F.3d 431 (10th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 117
S. Ct. 746 (1997), has been overruled to the extent that Lennox held that
§ 2253(c) applied to habeas petitions filed prior to AEDPA’s effective date. See
United States v. Kunzman, 125 F.3d 1363, 1364 n.2 (10th Cir. 1997) (en banc).
Because the habeas petition in this case was filed prior to that date, petitioner is
not subject to AEDPA, but he is subject to § 2253’s previous requirement that he
obtain a certificate of probable cause to appeal. Regardless of which label
applies, petitioner’s substantive burden is the same. As we held in Lennox, both
certificates of probable cause and of appealability require that a petitioner “make
a substantial showing of the denial of a federal constitutional right.” 87 F.3d
at 434.
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two felonies; (5) manufacturing a fictitious drivers license, after former
conviction of two felonies; and (6) manufacturing a fictitious birth certificate. He
is currently incarcerated serving four life sentences, a twenty-year sentence, and a
thirty-day sentence. In his second amended petition, which he filed on
November 22, 1995, he raised the following grounds for relief:
(1) denial of due process in state post-
conviction and habeas proceedings;
(2) denial of rights under state statutes and
state and federal constitutions;
(3) new laws mandating vacation of sentences;
(4) ineffective assistance of counsel;
(5) discovery of new evidence withheld by
prosecution;
(6) eleven original grounds for relief contained
in direct appeal;
(7) lack of subject matter jurisdiction by trial
court;
(8) denial of due process by appellate court’s
use of summary opinion format;
(9) ineffective assistance of counsel due to
conflict of interest;
(10) newly discovered evidence;
(11) new admissions by the state warranting
release;
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(12) factual innocence;
(13) jury tampering; and
(14) double jeopardy based on prior civil
forfeiture proceeding.
Cotner’s second amended petition also contends that he has identified 265 errors
in total warranting habeas relief that were further explained in a separate volume,
and that the district court improperly refused to allow him to file this separate
volume. Cotner contended that he had exhausted state remedies for all 265
issues. The state moved for dismissal based on failure to exhaust state remedies,
contending that Cotner did not raise any of the issues in his habeas petition on
direct appeal and that he provided no documentation or reference to case numbers
indicating that he had exhausted the issues he raised.
The district court noted that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals was
considering one of Cotner’s appeals from denial of post-conviction relief, and it
declined to stay Cotner’s case, which had been ongoing for two and one-half
years, until the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled. The court therefore granted the
state’s motion and dismissed Cotner’s petition without prejudice.
We review the district court’s decision to dismiss without prejudice for
failure to exhaust for abuse of discretion. Cf. Clark v. Tansy, 13 F.3d 1407, 1413
(10th Cir. 1993). We have considered Cotner’s arguments on appeal and find
them unpersuasive. He has the burden of showing that he has exhausted his state
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remedies for each of his claims, see Miranda v. Cooper, 967 F.2d 392, 398 (10th
Cir. 1992), and he has failed to do so. Cotner thus has neither made a substantial
showing of the denial of a federal constitutional right nor demonstrated that the
district court abused its discretion in dismissing his petition without prejudice.
We note that in an appeal involving a separate habeas petition Cotner filed
in the Western District of Oklahoma challenging the same convictions and
sentences challenged in this case, we ordered the district court to enter an order
denying the petition in its entirety. Cotner v. Hargett, No. 96-6349 (10th Cir.
Jan. 8, 1998) (unpublished). Therefore, in any future habeas petition, Cotner
must comply with the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). See Hatch v.
Oklahoma, 92 F.3d 1012, 1014 (10th Cir. 1996).
The application to proceed in forma pauperis is GRANTED. The
application for a certificate of probable cause is DENIED. All outstanding
motions are DENIED. The appeal is DISMISSED.
Entered for the Court
Monroe G. McKay
Circuit Judge
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