FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
June 25, 2014
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
ANDREW GONZALES,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v. No. 14-2014
(D.C. No. 1:13-CV-00616-LH-KBM)
JOSEPH GARCIA and GARY KING, (D. of N.M.)
Respondents - Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before LUCERO, TYMKOVICH, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.
Andrew Gonzales filed a pro se 1 petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his seventh conviction in New Mexico for driving
under the influence of alcohol. Gonzales was discharged from his sentence before
the district court ruled on the petition. The district court subsequently dismissed
his petition as moot because Gonzales was no longer in custody and there was no
possibility of collateral consequences arising from the challenged conviction.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
1
Because Gonzales is proceeding pro se, we construe his filings liberally.
Standifer v. Ledezma, 653 F.3d 1276, 1277 (10th Cir. 2011).
Gonzales sought a certificate of appealability (COA), challenging the denial of
his habeas petition.
We granted the COA, noting that reasonable jurists could find the district
court erred in denying the petition on mootness grounds. Although a habeas
petitioner who has been discharged from his sentence must demonstrate
continuing collateral consequences for the case to remain justiciable, a felony
conviction carries a presumption of collateral consequences. Spencer v. Kemna,
523 U.S. 1, 7 (1998). The district court erred because the court did not apply the
presumption of collateral consequences arising from Gonzales’s conviction and
mistakenly assumed that the only relevant collateral consequences derived from
the New Mexico DWI statute, N.M. Stat. § 66-08-102, under which Gonzales was
convicted.
We asked the state to respond. The state now acknowledges that the
district court erred in denying Gonzales’s petition on mootness grounds for
substantially the same reasons we articulated in the order granting a COA.
This matter is remanded to the district court with instructions to VACATE
the dismissal of Gonzales’s habeas petition and reconsider the petition in light of
the state’s concession.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT,
Timothy M. Tymkovich
Circuit Judge
-2-