UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

_________________________________ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee, 

v. 

SAMUEL BARAJAS, 

 Defendant - Appellant. 

No. 16-3036 

(D.C. Nos. 2:14-CV-02475-JWL and 

2:10-CR-20077-JWL-2) 

(D. Kan.) 

_________________________________ 

ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY

_________________________________ 

Before HARTZ, MURPHY, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. 

_________________________________ 

Defendant Samuel Barajas seeks a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal the 

denial of his motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to set aside his conviction and the denial of 

his motion for reconsideration. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (requiring a COA to 

appeal a denial of relief under § 2255). We deny a COA. No reasonable jurist could 

have ruled in his favor. 

I. BACKGROUND 

Defendant was convicted and sentenced to life on drug charges. The conviction 

was affirmed on appeal. He then filed in district court a § 2255 motion for relief from his 

conviction, contending—among other things—that his pretrial counsel, trial counsel, and 

appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance. The district court entered an order 

dismissing some of the claims on the pleadings. It appointed counsel for Defendant, held 

FILED 

United States Court of Appeals 

Tenth Circuit 

December 6, 2016

Elisabeth A. Shumaker 

Clerk of Court
2 

an evidentiary hearing, and dismissed the remaining claims. Defendant then filed a 

motion for reconsideration contending that his attorney for the evidentiary hearing 

provided ineffective assistance. The district court denied the motion. 

Counsel on appeal has filed an Anders Brief, and Defendant has filed a response. 

See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). Under Anders if an attorney 

examines a case and determines that an appeal desired by his client would be “wholly 

frivolous,” counsel may “so advise the court and request permission to withdraw.” Id. 

Counsel must submit a brief to both the appellate court and the client, pointing to 

anything in the record that could potentially present an appealable issue. See id. The 

client may then choose to offer argument to the court. See id. If, upon close examination 

of the record, the court determines that the appeal is frivolous, it may grant counsel’s 

request to withdraw and dismiss the appeal. See id. 

II. DISCUSSION 

 We grant a COA “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 the 

defendant to show “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. 

McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (internal quotation marks omitted). Put differently, 

the defendant must show that the district court’s resolution of the constitutional claim 

was either “debatable or wrong.” Id. 
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We have carefully reviewed Defendant’s claims and determined that they are 

undebatably meritless. All his claims that he would have accepted a plea bargain (even 

one offered before the evidentiary hearing in the § 2255 proceedings) and pleaded guilty 

if not for ineffective assistance of counsel are untenable in light of the district court’s 

factual finding that Defendant has consistently and adamantly asserted his innocence and 

refused any possible plea agreement. See Dist. Ct. Mem. & Order, Feb. 4, 2016 at 12–18, 

R. Vol. 1 at 872–878; Mem. & Order, May 8, 2016 at 2–4, R. Vol. 1 at 826–828. And we 

agree with the analysis in the district court’s opinions and the Anders brief showing that 

Defendant’s other claims are totally without merit. No reasonable jurist could debate the 

propriety of denying relief to Defendant. 

III. CONCLUSION 

We DENY a COA, DISMISS the appeal, and GRANT counsel’s motion to 

withdraw. 

Entered for the Court 

Harris L Hartz 

Circuit Judge