Source: http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FCO%2020111212058
Timestamp: 2013-12-05 22:26:42
Document Index: 256248451

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 5', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255']

Citing Case U.S. v. DEBERRYNo. 11-1355. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee,
December 12, 2011. Before KELLY, HARTZ, and HOLMES, Circuit Judges. ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY*
FootNotes* This Order is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.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 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 and Tenth Circuit Rule 32.1.
After examining the appellate record, this three-judge panel determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.1. Because Mr. Deberry is proceeding pro se, we construe his filings liberally. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam); Van Deelen v. Johnson, 497 F.3d 1151, 1153 n.1 (10th Cir. 2007).2. In his application for a COA, Mr. Deberry asserts what he styles a "[s]ixth [i]ssue," namely, that "[t]he district court committed clear error and abused its discretion when denying Appellant's section 2255 motion." Aplt. Combined Opening Br. & Appl. for COA at 16. Mr. Deberry's arguments under this heading reprise his arguments under the other five claims. We therefore construe this sixth claim as subsumed within the other five.3. The government argued to the district court that Mr. Deberry's fourth claim—unreasonable length of sentence, which was originally his fifth claim, added after his motion to amend—was not encompassed within his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. R. at 88 (United States' Answer Def.'s Mot. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, filed June 21, 2011). The district court agreed but examined the merits anyway. Id. at 103 (Order Mot. Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, filed July 21, 2011). In his original § 2255 motion asserting four claims, Mr. Deberry claimed ineffective assistance by virtue of his counsel's failure to raise the other three claims, which he enumerated specifically: "Prosecutorial Misconduct," "Judicial Bias," and "Plain Error" (i.e., abuse of discretion by the sentencing court in failing to consider U.S.S.G. § 5K2.10). See R. at 32, 39-40 (Mot. Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, filed Apr. 21, 2011). When he amended his motion, Mr. Deberry appears to have photocopied the original motion and added to the last page (spilling over onto an additional page) a "claim five" for unreasonable length of sentence. See id. at 65-66 (Amended Mot. Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, filed June 13, 2011). Because Mr. Deberry photocopied the original motion, he did not alter his ineffective-assistance claim to specifically reference the newly added fifth claim. Nonetheless, there are two reasons to construe the ineffective-assistance claim as encompassing the new unreasonable-length-of-sentence claim.
Accordingly, we construe Mr. Deberry's ineffective-assistance claim as encompassing all claims, including the unreasonable-length-of-sentence claim, in his COA application.4. This argument, though addressed by the district court, is not artfully made in Mr. Deberry's combined opening brief and application for COA. He asserts that "an actual case of vindictive prosecution is prev[a]lent in the instant case because, though the government prosecuted the three [Native American] defendants involved in that other assault, it did so merely to s[u]rvive the selective prosecution argument. Moreover, in the instant case, the government argued vehemently that the district court impose the maximum sentence allowable to the Appellant, but [recommended more lenient sentences for the Native American defendants]." Aplt. Combined Opening Br. & Appl. for COA at 9-10. Because the district court addressed the retaliation argument and because we construe Mr. Deberry's COA application liberally, Van Deelen, 497 F.3d at 1153 n.1, we will not deem the argument waived. Cf. Kokins v. Teleflex, Inc., 621 F.3d 1290, 1301 n.6 (10th Cir. 2010) ("[W]e routinely have declined to consider arguments that are not raised, or are inadequately presented, in an appellant's opening brief." (alteration in original) (quoting Bronson v. Swensen, 500 F.3d 1099, 1104 (10th Cir. 2007))).5. The district court addressed the substantive-reasonableness claim based on the sentencing disparity with respect to Mr. Deberry's codefendants only and did not consider the disparity vis-à-vis the Native American inmates. See R. at 103. However, Mr. Deberry's § 2255 motion alleged disparity based on both the sentences of the codefendants and the sentences of the Native American inmates. See id. at 65-66 (alleging a "grave disparity in the sentence [Mr. Deberry] received, as [o]pposed to the sentences that were imposed upon the other two defendants (Roderick Lackey and Paul Talliafero [sic]), . . . as well as a grave disparity in the sentence [Mr. Deberry] received, as [o]pposed to the sentences that were imposed upon the three defendants named in that other assault"). It appears, then, that the district court simply overlooked the claim of disparity vis-à-vis the Native American inmates. Because Mr. Deberry made this claim in both his § 2255 motion and his application for a COA, it is properly before us.6. Mr. Deberry informs us only that one inmate had the charges against him dismissed, one was allowed to enter a plea to "the lesser included offense" and received a sentence of twenty-four months, and the third entered a plea to "the lesser included [offense]" and received a sentence of twelve months. Aplt. Combined Opening Br. & Appl. for COA at 13. Comment