UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

________________ _________________ DAVID DEAN WOODS, Petitioner - Appellant,

v. SCOTT NUNN, Respondent - Appellee. No. 21-6117 (D.C. No. 5:21- CV-00237-G) (W.D. Okla.)

________________ _________________ ORDER DENYING CERTIFIC ATE OF APPEALABILITY *

________________ _________________ Before MATHESON , BRISCOE , and PHILLIPS , Circuit Judges.

________________ _________________ David Dean Woods, a state prisoner pr oceeding pro se, seeks a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to challenge the district court’s dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 application for a writ of habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c )(1)(A) (requiring a COA to appeal “the final order in a habeas corpus proceeding in which the detention complained of arises out of process issued by a State court”). He also seeks leave to

* This order is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. FILED United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit 

### November 30, 2021 Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 12 proceed in forma pauperis (“ ifp ”). Exercising jurisdiction u nder 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we deny both requests and dismiss this matter. 1
I. BACKGROUND Mr. Woods was convicted of trafficking ille gal drugs, harboring a fugitive, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and po ssessing a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Mr. Woods sought post-conviction relie f in state court. Relying on 

### McGirt v. State of Oklahoma , 140 S. Ct. 2452 (202 0), he argued the state court lacked jurisdiction because the underlying crimes occurred on the Chickasaw Nation’s land. The court denied the application, stating th at Mr. Woods “had failed to prove or even allege that he is a member of any r ecognized Indian tribe.” ROA at 18. In his appeal (“Petition in Error”) to th e Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (“OCCA”), Mr. Woods argued that “the 186 6 Treaty between the Chickasaws and the United States reserves civil and criminal ju risdiction to the Chickasaw Nation for matters that arise in Chickasaw Nation” for Indians and non-Indians alike. Id. at 19-20. The OCCA affirmed the denial of post-convictio n relief, noting that M r. Woods’s application stated “that he is not a memb er of any Indian tribe.” Id. at 20. Mr. Woods next filed a § 2254 application in federal district court, again alleging the state court lacked jurisdic tion because the crimes occurred in Indian country. In a

1 Because Mr. Woods appears pro se, “we liberally construe his filings, but we will not act as his advocate.” James v. Wadas , 724 F.3d 1312, 1315 (10th Cir. 2013). Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 23 Report and Recommendation (“R&R”), a magist rate judge recommended dismissal of the application because Mr. Woods is not a member of an Indian tribe and his crimes were not committed against an Indian tribe membe r. The district court, having received no objection from Mr. Woods, adopted the r ecommendation and entered judgment dismissing the action. Three weeks later, the district court re ceived an objection to the R&R from Mr. Woods. Instead of relying on McGirt , Mr. Woods claimed that “the State Court lacked jurisdiction due to treaty provisions found in the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (Article 4) 7 Stat. 333, and the 1866 Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws (Article 8),
14 Stat. 769.” Id. at 34. He further stated that his “actual claim relies on Article 8 of the 1866 Treaty, . . . which states that the tribe shall have juri sdiction over ‘people other than Indians’ who commit crimes w ithin their boundaries.” Id. Mr. Woods also moved to vacate the dismissal of his § 2254 application. The district court considered the objection, which did not contest that Mr. Woods is a non-Indian or that his crimes were not committed against an Indian. The court stated that (1) his § 2254 application cited McGirt and made no reference to treaties, (2) his objection failed to address the numerous author ities cited in the R&R holding that state courts retain jurisdiction over victimless crimes even when th ey occur on Indian land, and (3) the cited portion of the 1866 Treaty did not confer on the Chic kasaw Tribe exclusive authority to prosecute non-Indians who co mmit crimes on Indian land. The court therefore denied Mr. Woods’s objection and his motion to vacate. It also denied a COA. Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 34 II. DISCUSSION We must grant a COA to review a § 2254 application. 28 U.S. C. § 2253(c)(1)(A);

see Miller-El v. Cockrell , 537 U.S. 322, 335-36 (2003). To receive a COA, an applicant must make “a substantial show ing of the denial of a c onstitutional right,” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), and must show “that reasonabl e jurists could debate whether . . . the petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were adequate to deserve encourag ement to proceed further,” Slack v. McDaniel , 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (quotations omitted). In his brief to this court Mr. Woods write s that he sought post-conviction relief in the state district court by claiming that “the 1830 and 1866 Treaties . . . reserve[d] civil and criminal jurisdiction to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation for matters that arise in Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation.” Aplt. Br. at 1. The OCCA said that Mr. Woods relied only on the 1866 Treaty. ROA at 19-20. In his § 2254 application, Mr. Woods failed to mention any treaty. The district court, howev er, responding to Mr. Woods’s objection to the R&R, held the 1866 Treaty did not depriv e the state court of jurisdiction over Mr. Woods’s criminal prosecution. 2

2 The district court did not address the 1830 Treaty give n that Mr. Woods said in his objection to the R&R that his “actual clai m relies on Article 8 of the 1866 Treaty.” ROA at 34. Also, in his appeal to the OCCA from the state district court’s denial of his post-conviction petition, his “Brief in Suppor t of Petition in Error” relied only on the 1866 Treaty. Although this brief is not in the record on appeal, we may take judicial notice of it. See United States v. Smalls , 605 F.3d 765, 768 n.2 (10th Cir. 2010) (recognizing a court may take judicial notice of docket information from another court); Pace v. Swerdlow, 519 F.3d 1067, 1072–73 (10th Cir.200 8) (stating a federal court may take judicial notice of state court docum ents); Fed. R. Evid. 201(b)(2). Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 45 In reaching this conclusion, the district court said that Mr. Woods relied on Article 8 of the 1866 Treaty providing th at the annual tribal general assembly has the “power to legislate upon all subjects and matters pertai ning to . . . the administration of justice between members of the several tribes of the said Territory, an d persons other than Indians and members of said tribes or nations.” Id. at 46 (quoting Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw art. 8, ¶ 4, Apr. 28, 1866, 14 Stat. 769).
In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe , 435 U.S. 191, 208 (1978), the Supreme Court held that “Indians do not have crim inal jurisdiction over non-Indians absent affirmative delegation of su ch power by Congress.” Mr. Woods has not advanced a specific or developed argument as to why the 1866 Treaty qualifies as an “affirmative delegation.” See United States v. Wells , 873 F.3d 1241, 1254 (10th Cir. 2017) (explaining that we may deem waived a pro se litigant’s inad equately briefed argument). Without doing so, his habeas application fails under Oliphant and this court’s precedent. 3
In United States v. Langford , 641 F.3d 1195, 1197 (10th Cir. 2011), this court held that a state court has exclusive jurisdiction over the prosecution of a crime that occurred in Indian country when, as in this case, there is no Indian perpetrator or victim. See

3 In his brief, Mr. Woods refers to the Tr eaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Sept. 27, 1830, 7 Stat. 333, and the Treaty of Doaksville, 11 Stat. 573, Jan. 17, 1837, Aplt. Br. at 3, but he did not include them in his § 2254 application and mentioned the 1830 Treaty only in passing in his objection to the R&R. He thus has waived any arguments based on those treaties. See United States v. Nelson , 868 F.3d 885, 891 n.4 (10th Cir. 2017) (Our “rule against considering ne w arguments on appeal applie s equally when ‘a litigant changes to a new theory on appeal that falls under the same general category as an argument presented at trial.’”). Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 56 United States v. McBratney, 104 U.S. 621, 624 (1881). Mr. Woods admitted in his state post-conviction application that he is not a memb er of an Indian tribe. ROA at 20. And he does not contest that he did not commit a crime against an Indian. Thus, even if Mr. Woods committed his crimes on Chickasaw la nd, the state court properly exercised jurisdiction. Mr. Woods has failed to show that reasonable jurists would debate the district court’s dismissal of his § 2254 applicati on. He thus is not entitled to a COA.
III. CONCLUSION We deny Mr. Woods’s requests for a COA and ifp status, and we dismiss this

matter. Entered for the Court

Scott M. Matheson, Jr. Circuit Judge Appellate Case: 21-6117 Document: 010110611724 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 Page: 6