Court Opinion

ID: 9959092
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-10 17:01:08.863448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:26.958104
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        APR 10 2024
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                       No.    22-35862

                Plaintiff-Appellee,             D.C. Nos.    1:22-cv-00023-SPW
                                                             1:19-cr-00063-SPW-1
 v.

JULIAN TYLER BAUGHMAN,                          MEMORANDUM*

                Defendant-Appellant.

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                           for the District of Montana
                    Susan P. Watters, District Judge, Presiding

                      Argued and Submitted March 25, 2024
                              Seattle, Washington

Before: WARDLAW, W. FLETCHER, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.

      Julian Tyler Baughman appeals the district court’s summary denial of his

motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

At trial, Baughman was convicted of possession with intent to distribute fifty

grams or more of actual methamphetamine (“Count 1”), being a felon in

possession of a firearm (“Count 2”), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
drug trafficking crime (“Count 3”). In his § 2255 petition, Baughman alleges that

his counsel conceded his guilt on Count 2 over his express objection, violating his

Sixth Amendment “right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt.”

McCoy v. Louisiana, 584 U.S. 414, 417 (2018). The district court summarily

dismissed this claim pursuant to Rule 4 of the Rules Governing § 2255

Proceedings in the United States District Courts (“Rule 4”) and granted a

certificate of appealability. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we

reverse and remand for further proceedings.

      1.     The district court erred by summarily dismissing Baughman’s McCoy

claim. Rule 4 provides that when a § 2255 motion is filed, the “judge who receives

the motion must promptly examine it” to determine whether “it plainly appears

from the motion, any attached exhibits, and the record of prior proceedings that the

moving party is not entitled to relief.” Rule 4(b). “Summary dismissal is

appropriate only where the allegations in the petition” are “vague” or

“conclusory,” “palpably incredible,” or “patently frivolous or false.” Hendricks v.

Vasquez, 908 F.2d 490, 491 (9th Cir. 1990) (quoting Blackledge v. Allison, 431

U.S. 63, 75–76 (1977)).

      It does not “plainly appear” from the record that Baughman “is not entitled

to relief” on his McCoy claim. Rule 4(b). Baughman’s pro se petition described

trial counsel’s statements conceding guilt on Count 2 to the jury, identified the

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relevant portions of the trial transcript, and alleged that “Baughman told the

attorney’s [sic] on his case not to admit his guilt and in no way approved this

defense.” This allegation is not frivolous, even in light of Baughman’s statements

during sentencing, which occurred well after his counsel conceded guilt. Whether

or not Baughman registered his disagreement with counsel during trial cannot be

discerned from the record before the district court. Nor is the applicability of

McCoy to the facts alleged by Baughman clear. Rule 4 dismissal was therefore

improper.

      The government argues that Baughman’s failure to register a

contemporaneous objection with the trial court and his inability to show that the

outcome of the proceeding would have been different absent the concession dooms

his claim. We express no view on the merits of Baughman’s McCoy claim, for it

suffices at this stage to observe that addressing the government’s arguments would

require the court to resolve facts and decide a legal issue. Absent controlling

precedent resolving the viability of Baughman’s claim, it does not “plainly appear”

to be without merit under Rule 4. See Clayton v. Biter, 868 F.3d 840, 846 n.2 (9th

Cir. 2017) (Rule 4 dismissal is inappropriate where a “pro se petitioner raises a

question not yet clearly decided.”).

      2.     Baughman’s § 2255 petition also raises Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S.

83 (1963), and ineffective assistance of counsel claims based on a laboratory

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report. The district court denied Baughman’s request for a certificate of

appealability (“COA”) regarding these claims. We also deny Baughman’s request

for a COA as to his claims related to the laboratory report.1

      REVERSED AND REMANDED.

1
  We deny both Baughman’s and the government’s motions to supplement the
record on appeal as moot. Dkt. 36; Dkt. 46.

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