F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
MAY 19 2005
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
BRIAN ASHWORTH,
Petitioner-Appellant,
No. 04-6364
v. (Western District of Oklahoma)
(D.C. No. CV-04-147-L)
MIKE ADDISON, Warden,
Respondent-Appellee.
ORDER
Before BRISCOE, LUCERO, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
Proceeding pro se, Brian Ashworth seeks a certificate of appealability
(“COA”) so he can appeal the district court’s denial of the habeas petition he filed
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) (providing that no
appeal may be taken from a final order disposing of a § 2254 petition unless the
petitioner first obtains a COA). Ashworth’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis
is granted.
On January 10, 2003, Ashworth pleaded guilty to one count of lewd
molestation. Pursuant to the terms of a plea agreement, a second charge of lewd
molestation was dismissed. He was sentenced to a thirteen-year term of
imprisonment. Ashworth did not seek to withdraw his guilty plea and he did not
file a direct appeal. He did, however, file a state post-conviction application on
November 3, 2003. Ashworth asserted several ineffective assistance of counsel
claims in addition to a claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to accept his
plea because it did not hold a preliminary hearing after a charge was added to the
information. The state district court denied Ashworth’s post-conviction
application, relying on Oklahoma’s procedural default rule. See Okla Stat. tit. 22,
§ 1086. The denial of post-conviction relief was affirmed by the Oklahoma
Court of Criminal Appeals.
Ashworth filed the instant § 2254 petition on February 12, 2004, raising the
same ineffective assistance and jurisdictional claims raised in his state post-
conviction application. The matter was referred to a magistrate judge who
prepared a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) recommending that Ashworth’s
petition be denied. The R&R first addressed Ashworth’s assertion that a
jurisdictional claim cannot be subject to procedural default. It concluded,
however, that the right to a preliminary hearing on an amended information can
be waived by the failure to object. See Norton v. State, 43 P.3d 404, 408 (Okla.
Crim. App. 2002). Thus, despite Ashworth’s assertions, his claim did not
implicate the trial court’s jurisdiction and it was procedurally defaulted. The
R&R further concluded that Ashworth had failed to show cause and prejudice to
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excuse the default and had also failed to demonstrate that the failure to review the
merits of the defaulted claim would result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice.
See Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 622 (1998). The R&R then concluded
that federal review of Ashworth’s ineffective assistance claims was not barred by
the procedural default. Although it reviewed the claims, it determined that they
lacked merit.
Ashworth filed timely objections to the R&R and argued, in part, that he
was not given an adequate opportunity to argue the merits of his ineffective
assistance claims. The district court considered Ashworth’s expanded arguments
but concluded that the ineffective assistance claims lacked merit. Accordingly,
the court denied Ashworth’s § 2254 petition.
This court cannot grant Ashworth a COA unless he can demonstrate “that
reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the
petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues
presented were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Slack v.
McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (quotations omitted). In evaluating whether
Ashworth has carried his burden, this court undertakes “a preliminary, though not
definitive, consideration of the [legal] framework” applicable to each of his
claims. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 338 (2003). Ashworth is not
required to demonstrate that his appeal will succeed to be entitled to a COA. He
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must, however, “prove something more than the absence of frivolity or the
existence of mere good faith.” Id. (quotations omitted).
This court has reviewed Ashworth’s application for a COA and appellate
brief, the district court’s order, and the entire record on appeal pursuant to the
framework set out by the Supreme Court in Miller-El and concludes that
Ashworth is not entitled to a COA. The district court’s resolution of Ashworth’s
claims is not reasonably subject to debate and the claims are not adequate to
deserve further proceedings. Accordingly, Ashworth has not “made a substantial
showing of the denial of a constitutional right” and is not entitled to a COA. 28
U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2).
This court denies Ashworth’s request for a COA and dismisses this appeal.
Entered for the Court
PATRICK FISHER, Clerk of Court
By
Deputy Clerk
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