Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-89-08088/USCOURTS-ca10-89-08088-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 

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FILED 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEAL~ aited Scates ~~,, ~f Appotls Tenrh C!rcu.n 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

DONALD G. SWORD, ) 

) 

Petitioner-Appellant, ) 

) 

v. ) 

) 

DUANE SHILLINGER, and the ATTORNEY ) 

GENERAL, of the State of Wyoming, ) 

) 

Respondents-Appellees. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

FE B ~ 1 1 

.ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No. 89-8088 

(D.C. No. C89-146-K) 

(D. Wyo.) 

Before LOGAN, MOORE, and BALDOCK, 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. 

submitted without oral argument. 

Petitioner appeals the 

The case is therefore ordered 

district court's order of 

October 11, 1989, as amended October 16, 1989, dismissing his 

petition for habeas corpus relief filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3. 

Appellate Case: 89-8088 Document: 010110098419 Date Filed: 02/04/1991 Page: 1 
, § 2254. The district court dismissed the petition for failure to 

exhaust available state remedies. It also denied petitioner's 

application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal and 

for issuance of a certificate of probable cause. Petitioner has 

renewed his application with this court. 

After the district court dismissed the habeas petition, 

petitioner not only filed a notice of appeal with this court, but 

also filed petitions seeking habeas relief with both the Wyoming 

district court and the Wyoming Supreme Court. While this action 

was pending on appeal, both state courts denied petitioner relief. 

It appears from Justice Urbigkit's dissent from the denial of 

relief that petitioner raised the same issues to the Wyoming 

Supreme Court that he raised in his federal habeas petition. 

Since petitioner has "present[ed] his claim[s] to a state 

appellate court," he has fulfilled the exhaustion requirement, 

Osborn v. Shillinger, 861 F.2d 612, 616 (10th Cir. 1988), and 

"this obstacle to a consideration of the merits of petitioner's 

application, which the [district court] encountered, has now been 

removed," Sharpe v. Buchanan, 317 U.S. 238, 239 (1942)(per 

curiam). Therefore, we will vacate the district court's order of 

dismissal and remand the action for further proceedings. See id.; 

Carr v. Simpson, 412 F.2d 838, 839 (5th Cir. 1969)(per curiam); 

Davis v. Jackson, 246 F.2d 268, 269 (2d Cir. 1957)(per curiam). 

Accordingly, petitioner's application for leave to proceed on 

appeal in forma pauperis and for issuance of a certificate of 

probable cause is GRANTED, the judgment of the United States 

District Court for the District of Wyoming is VACATED, and the 

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Appellate Case: 89-8088 Document: 010110098419 Date Filed: 02/04/1991 Page: 2 
I 

case is REMANDED for further proceedings. Petitioner's motion for 

the appointment of counsel on appeal and for oral argument is 

DENIED as moot; his motion for the imposition of sanctions on 

appeal also is DENIED. 

Entered for the Court 

Bobby R. Baldock 

Circuit Judge 

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Appellate Case: 89-8088 Document: 010110098419 Date Filed: 02/04/1991 Page: 3