United States v. Smylie , 220 F. App'x 798 ( 2007 )


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  •                                                                        F I L E D
    United States Court of Appeals
    Tenth Circuit
    UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS
    March 23, 2007
    TENTH CIRCUIT                      Elisabeth A. Shumaker
    Clerk of Court
    U N ITED STA TES O F A M ER ICA,
    Plaintiff - Appellee,
    No. 06-6291
    v.                                            (D.C. Nos. CIV-06-219-HE and
    04-CR-00206-HE)
    BEN RU SSELL SM YLIE,                                  (W .D. Okla.)
    Defendant - Appellant.
    ORDER
    DENYING CERTIFICATE O F APPEALABILITY
    Before KELLY, M U RPH Y, and O’BRIEN, Circuit Judges.
    Petitioner-Appellant Ben Russell Smylie, a federal inmate appearing pro se,
    requests a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) so that he may challenge his
    conviction, pursuant to a guilty plea, of one count of possession of
    methamphetamine with intent to distribute. On M arch 3, 2006, M r. Smylie filed a
    petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    , contending that the
    government failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, that his conviction violated
    the Double Jeopardy Clause, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel,
    and that the district court’s sentencing errors denied him Due Process of Law.
    The district court correctly recharacterized the petition as a 
    28 U.S.C. § 2255
    motion, given that M r. Smylie sought relief from his incarceration pursuant to a
    federal conviction and sentence. It then denied the motion in all respects, holding
    that M r. Smylie waived his right to collaterally attack his conviction and sentence
    in his plea agreement 1 and granting the government’s motion to enforce the plea
    agreement. See R. (CR-04-206-HE) Doc. 76-1, Ex. 1 at 5.        W e agree that M r.
    Smylie has not made “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional
    right,” 
    28 U.S.C. § 2253
    (c)(2), and we deny his request for a COA and dismiss
    his appeal.
    Background
    On November 16, 2004, a federal grand jury returned a thirteen-count
    indictment charging M r. Smylie and Robby Joe Lauer with various offenses
    relating to the manufacture, possession, and distribution of methamphetamine. R.
    Doc. 1. After waiving his right to a jury trial, R. Doc. 29, M r. Smylie pled guilty
    on February 8, 2005, to a single count of possession of a controlled substance
    with intent to distribute in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
    (a)(1) (Count Six).
    Pursuant to his plea agreement, M r. Smylie pled guilty in exchange for the
    government’s agreement to dismiss the remaining counts against him and to
    recommend that his federal sentence be ordered to run concurrently with the
    sentence he was to receive after pleading guilty to state drug charges. See R.
    1
    The w aiver had two exceptions–a sentence in excess of the advisory
    guideline range and a retroactive change in the law–that the court determined
    were not operative in M r. Smylie’s case.
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    Doc. 31 at 3. M r. Smylie also agreed to waive his right to appeal or collaterally
    challenge his conviction and sentence, provided that his sentence fell within the
    Guideline range. 
    Id. at 5
    . He explained his understanding of the plea agreement
    in his Petition to Enter a Plea of Guilty: “I plead to count 6 and all other counts
    will be dismissed; the government agrees the sentence should run concurrent[ly]
    with my state sentences; no other charges can be filed; we have stipulated to
    guideline provisions; and an appellate waiver.” R. Doc. 30 at 8.
    The district court sentenced M r. Smylie to 173 months’ imprisonment
    followed by 36 months’ supervised release. He did not appeal.
    Discussion
    Before reaching the merits of M r. Smylie’s claims, we must determine
    whether he is entitled to a COA. Pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 2253
    (c)(2), an inmate
    seeking a COA must make “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional
    right.” He may do so by “showing that reasonable jurists could debate whether . .
    . 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 cD aniel, 
    529 U.S. 473
    , 484 (2000) (internal quotation marks omitted).
    The district court held that the waiver in M r. Smylie’s plea agreement
    prevented him from collaterally challenging his conviction and sentence. W e
    typically enforce waivers of this sort provided that (1) the disputed appeal falls
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    within the scope of the waiver, (2) the defendant knowingly and voluntarily
    waived his appellate rights, and (3) enforcing the waiver would not result in a
    miscarriage of justice. See United States v. Porter, 
    405 F.3d 1136
    , 1142 (10th
    Cir.), cert. denied, 
    126 S. Ct. 550
     (2005); United States v. Hahn, 
    359 F.3d 1315
    ,
    1325 (10th Cir. 2004) (en banc); United States v. Cockerham, 
    237 F.3d 1179
    ,
    1183 (10th Cir. 2001). In this case, we have no difficulty concluding that M r.
    Smylie’s § 2255 motion falls within the scope of his w aiver of the rights to
    “collaterally challenge his guilty plea and any other aspect of his conviction” and
    to “collaterally challenge . . . his sentence as imposed by the Court and the
    manner in which the sentence is determined . . . .” R. Doc. 31 at 5. Likewise,
    M r. Smylie’s statements in his Petition to Enter a Plea of Guilty and the district
    court’s recollection of the plea colloquy are sufficient indication that his waiver
    was knowing and voluntary. See R. Doc. 30; R. Doc. 81 at 4.
    W e also reject M r. Smylie’s argument that enforcing his plea agreement
    would result in a miscarriage of justice. W e have held that:
    To prove that enforcement of an appellate waiver would result in a
    miscarriage of justice, a defendant must establish at least one of four
    circumstances: (1) reliance by the court upon an impermissible factor
    such as race in imposition of the sentence; (2) ineffective assistance
    of counsel in connection with the negotiation of the waiver; (3) the
    sentence exceeds the statutory maximum; or (4) the waiver is
    otherwise unlawful and seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or
    public reputation of judicial proceedings.
    Porter, 
    405 F.3d at 1143
    . M r. Smylie bears the burden of establishing that one of
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    these factors exists. United States v. Anderson, 
    374 F.3d 955
    , 959 (10th Cir.
    2004). H e argues “that his plea was coerced by his attorney,” Aplt. Br. at 2-A,
    and that his counsel “failed to explain to him the relevant facts concerning th[e]
    plea, and he failed to explain the ramifications of a plea in the Federal Court,” 
    id.
    at 16-B. This contention is flatly contradicted by M r. Smylie’s Petition to Enter a
    Plea of Guilty, which reflects a clear understanding of his plea agreement and its
    consequences. See R. Doc. 30.
    He further asserts that his attorney should not have advised him to plead
    guilty because the evidence against him was w eak and because his plea resulted in
    multiple punishments for the same drug activity. Aplt. Br. at 16-A. He does not
    contend that but for the ineffective assistance he would have gone to trial,
    however. See United States v. Gordon, 
    4 F.3d 1567
    , 1570 (10th Cir. 1993).
    Regardless, this argument does not implicate “the validity of the plea or the
    waiver,” so it has been waived. Cockerham, 
    237 F.3d at 1187
    .
    The district court correctly concluded that M r. Smylie’s appeal falls within
    the scope of his waiver, which was entered knowingly and voluntarily, and that
    enforcing the waiver would not result in a miscarriage of justice. No reasonable
    jurist w ould disagree. A ccordingly, we DENY Mr. Smylie’s request for a COA ,
    DENY his motion to proceed IFP, and DISM ISS his appeal.
    Entered for the Court
    Paul J. Kelly, Jr.
    Circuit Judge
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