Opinion ID: 763540
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Liberal Construction of the Petition

Text: 9 The district court did not abuse its discretion in attempting to ascertain the nature of Petitioner's claim. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). When a defendant contends that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise an issue on appeal or here, on rehearing, an examination of the merits of the omitted issue is usually necessary See United States v. Cook, 45 F.3d 388, 392-93 (10th Cir.1995). 10 Moreover, the mandated liberal construction afforded to pro se pleadings means that if the court can reasonably read the pleadings to state a valid claim on which the [petitioner] could prevail, it should do so despite the [petitioner's] failure to cite proper legal authority, his confusion of various legal theories, his poor syntax and sentence construction, or his unfamiliarity with pleading requirements. Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir.1991) (footnote omitted). At the same time, a district court should not assume the role of advocate for the pro se litigant, id., and may not rewrite a petition to include claims that were never presented, Parker v. Champion, 148 F.3d 1219, 1222 (10th Cir.1998), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 119 S.Ct. 1053, 143 L.Ed.2d 58 (1999). The district court in this case looked carefully at the facts and the pleadings in an effort to ascertain what occurred in prior state proceedings and the true nature of Petitioner's claims. Although the language and syntax of the petition, together with an emphasis on ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failing to file a rehearing petition suggest an unwinnable claim, Petitioner cited proper legal authority and explained why a rehearing petition was so necessary-he was without counsel during the remand and Oklahoma's standard for determining competency had been declared unconstitutional. The task of sorting though pro se pleadings is difficult at best; provided a respondent is afforded a full and fair opportunity to address a construction not immediately apparent, we will not interfere with the district court's effort to do substantial justice.