Rosales v. Milyard

541 F. App'x 874
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 24, 2013
Docket17-4189
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 541 F. App'x 874 (Rosales v. Milyard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosales v. Milyard, 541 F. App'x 874 (10th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY *

SCOTT M. MATHESON, JR., Circuit Judge.

Daniel L. Rosales, a Colorado state prisoner proceeding pro se, 1 seeks a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to appeal the district court’s dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (requiring a COA to appeal the denial of a habeas application). Mr. Rosales also requests leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“ifp”). Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we deny both requests and dismiss this matter.

I. BACKGROUND

A. State Court Proceedings

In November 2002, a Colorado state court jury found Mr. Rosales guilty of two counts of first degree murder after deliberation, two counts of first degree felony murder, one count of first degree burglary, one count of second degree assault, and one count of violating a restraining order. See People v. Rosales, 134 P.3d 429, 431 *877 (Colo.App.2005). The evidence showed that on the night of the murders, Mr. Rosales beat his girlfriend, then took a shotgun and drove to his estranged wife’s apartment. Mr. Rosales broke into the apartment by firing two shots to disable locks on the apartment door. He then reloaded his gun on his way to the bedroom, where he discovered his estranged wife with the man she had been dating. Mr. Rosales shot and killed them both. Id.

Mr. Rosales was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for murder, a concurrent prison term of thirty-two years for burglary, a consecutive term of sixteen years for assault, and a concurrent term of eighteen months for violating the restraining order. The state trial court additionally ordered restitution in February 2008, a month after Mr. Rosales filed his notice of direct appeal. Id.

On direct appeal, the Colorado Court of Appeals (“CCA”) affirmed Mr. Rosales’s conviction and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to amend the mittimus to include an order of restitution. Id. at 436. The Colorado Supreme Court denied Mr. Rosales’s petition for certiorari. See Rosales v. People, No. 05SC684, 2006 WL 1688339 (Colo. May 22, 2006).

Mr. Rosales next filed a postconviction motion pursuant to Rule 35(c) of the Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure. The state trial court denied that motion. The CCA affirmed denial, see People v. Rosales, No. 07CA1881, 2009 WL 783340 (Colo.App. Mar. 26, 2009), and the Colorado Supreme Court denied certiorari. See Rosales v. People, No. 09SC409, 2010 WL 3504782 (Colo. Sept. 7, 2010) (en banc).

All of the claims for which Mr. Rosales seeks COA were presented to and adjudicated by the Colorado courts and therefore were exhausted for purposes of habeas review.

B. Federal Habeas Petition

Mr. Rosales asserted nine claims at the district court, the first six of which he continues to assert in his application for COA:

(1) Trial court error in allowing a faulty jury instruction on self-induced intoxication;
(2) Prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument;
(3) Lack of trial court jurisdiction to impose restitution;
(4) Trial court error in imposing restitution after Mr. Rosales sold his house;
(5) Double Jeopardy Clause. and Due Process violations in imposing restitution;
(6) Ineffective assistance of trial counsel;
(7) Trial court error in not holding an evidentiary hearing during the post-conviction proceeding;
(8) The postconviction court’s violation of state civil and criminal rules in denying Mr. Rosales’s request to amend his Rule 35(e) motion as well as his request for an evidentiary hearing; and
(9) Ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel.

The district court produced a thorough order examining each of Mr. Rosales’s claims. See Rosales v. Milyard, No. 10-cv-03101-CMA, 2013 WL 1302657, at *1 (D.Colo. Mar. 29, 2013) (unpublished) (hereinafter “Dist. Ct. Order.”). The district court denied Claims One, Two, Six, and Seven for lack of merit. It denied Claims Three, Four, and Five for lack of jurisdiction, holding that restitution payments are not the sort of restraint on liberty contemplated by the “in custody” *878 requirement of § 2254(a). Finally, the district court held that Claims Eight and Nine failed to state cognizable federal habeas claims.

The district court further denied COA, holding that Mr. Rosales had not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). It also certified that, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), any appeal of its order would not be taken in good faith and ifp status should therefore be denied on appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

Mr. Rosales may not appeal the district court’s denial of his § 2254 petition without a COA. See Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 335-36, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003); Clark v. Oklahoma, 468 F.3d 711, 713 (10th Cir.2006). To obtain a COA, Mr. Rosales must make “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). To make this showing, Mr. Rosales must demonstrate “that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude that the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Dulworth v. Jones, 496 F.3d 1133, 1136-37 (10th Cir.2007) (quotations omitted).

As the district court noted, federal habeas review of state court decisions is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
541 F. App'x 874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosales-v-milyard-ca10-2013.