Opinion ID: 787771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Smith's Claim of Cause to Excuse his Procedural Default

Text: 14 The district court refused to consider the merits of Smith's claims in his habeas petition because of its conclusion that the claims were procedurally barred. In this appeal, Smith does not dispute that his claims are barred 6 but instead contends that he can show cause and prejudice to excuse his procedural default. We review de novo the district court's decision to dismiss a habeas petition for procedural default. Cockett v. Ray, 333 F.3d 938, 941 (9th Cir.2003). 15 To allege cause for a procedural default, a petitioner must assert that the procedural default is due to an objective factor that is external to the petitioner and that cannot fairly be attributed to him. Manning v. Foster, 224 F.3d 1129, 1133 (9th Cir.2000) (quoting Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 753, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991)). Smith makes two arguments regarding cause, both premised on a state statutory right to counsel that extends beyond the Sixth Amendment right and that has been interpreted to include a right to effective assistance of counsel. On the basis of these premises, Smith argues that his procedural default should be excused, first because his appointed counsel on direct appeal was ineffective in failing to file a petition for review with the Idaho Supreme Court, and second because the state trial court violated his statutory right to counsel by failing to appoint counsel during his post-conviction proceedings. 16 Smith's first argument lacks merit. It is well-established that criminal defendants have no constitutional right to counsel beyond their first appeal as of right, and hence no right to counsel in a discretionary appeal to the State's highest court. Ross v. Moffitt, 417 U.S. 600, 610, 94 S.Ct. 2437, 41 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974); see also Bonin v. Vasquez, 999 F.2d 425, 430 (9th Cir.1993). Ineffective assistance of counsel can constitute cause to excuse a procedural default only if the petitioner had a constitutional right to counsel in the proceeding in which the default occurred. Coleman, 501 U.S. at 752-53, 111 S.Ct. 2546. Any errors committed by Smith's counsel in seeking (or not seeking) discretionary review from the Idaho Supreme Court during the direct appeal thus cannot constitute cause under Coleman. The fact that counsel is appointed by the state court does not change the result, because counsel is not constitutionally required. See Poland v. Stewart, 169 F.3d 573, 588 (9th Cir.1999). 17 Smith's second argument is more compelling. Smith makes a strong case that the state trial court erred — as a matter of state law — in failing to appoint counsel for Smith during his post-conviction proceedings. Under Idaho law as it stood at the time of Smith's post-conviction proceedings, a defendant was entitled to court-appointed counsel when the defendant showed that a viable claim for post-conviction relief existed at the time the application was filed. Fox v. State, 129 Idaho 881, 934 P.2d 947, 951 (Ct.App.1997); see also Brown v. State, 135 Idaho 676, 23 P.3d 138, 140 (2001) (holding, shortly after Smith's post-conviction proceedings were completed, that a defendant was entitled to court-appointed counsel unless the district court determined that his petition for post-conviction relief was frivolous.). 7 Smith filed two motions asking the trial court to appoint him counsel: one before the trial court ruled on Smith's petition, and one seeking counsel on appeal after the trial court's decision. The record does not reflect that any action was taken with respect to the first motion, and the trial court denied the second without comment. For neither motion did the trial court make the finding of a lack of viability required by Fox. 18 However, even if we agree with Smith that the trial court erred as a matter of Idaho law in failing to appoint him counsel during his post-conviction proceedings, Smith cannot obtain habeas relief on that basis. See Langford v. Day, 110 F.3d 1380, 1389 (9th Cir.1996) ([A]lleged errors in the application of state law are not cognizable in federal habeas corpus.). Smith had no federal constitutional right to counsel during his post conviction proceedings. Coleman, 501 U.S. at 752, 111 S.Ct. 2546; Poland, 169 F.3d at 588. Therefore, under Coleman, Smith cannot establish cause because of the state trial court's failure to appoint him counsel, even if such failure was erroneous as a matter of state law. See Bonin, 999 F.2d at 430-31 (Even if California's constitutional guarantees were interpreted to grant Bonin a right to counsel in state collateral proceedings, the deprivation of that state-law right would not be the `independent constitutional violation' of Coleman, because Coleman referred only to violations of the federal constitution.) (emphasis in original); see also Burns v. Gammon, 173 F.3d 1089, 1093 (8th Cir.1999) ([T]here is no Sixth Amendment right to post-conviction counsel, and [ ] neither the absence of such counsel, nor the deficient performance of such counsel, if appointed, can create cause to avoid a procedural bar.). 8