FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
July 25, 2012
TENTH CIRCUIT
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
MARTIN JAMES PETERSON,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 12-8032
ROBERT O. LAMPERT, Wyoming (D.C. No. 2:12-CV-00082-ABJ)
Department of Corrections Director, (D. Wyo.)
MICHAEL MURPHY, Wyoming
Department of Corrections Warden,
GABRIEL RAMIREZ, Wyoming
Department of Corrections Sergeant,
JOHN HOFFMAN, Wyoming
Department of Corrections Sergeant,
ISAAC VILLAFRANCA, Wyoming
Department of Corrections Officer,
and DEMARANED, Wyoming
Department of Corrections Officer,
Respondents-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before MURPHY, BALDOCK, and HARTZ, Circuit Judges. **
A state prisoner challenging “the fact or duration of his confinement” in
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the doctrines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.
**
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this
appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
federal court cannot use a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, but instead must seek federal
habeas relief. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489 (1973). Petitioner Martin
James Peterson, a state prisoner, filed a § 1983 action in the District of Wyoming.
The district court construed his complaint as a petition for habeas corpus pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, reasoning that the complaint primarily challenged the duration
of his confinement. The district court dismissed this civil action without prejudice
because Petitioner failed to demonstrate he exhausted his state remedies. Petitioner
appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 1 “We review the district court’s dismissal of
a § 2241 habeas petition de novo,” Garza v. Davis, 596 F.3d 1198, 1203 (10th Cir.
2010), construing Petitioner’s pro se arguments liberally on appeal. Standifer v.
Ledezma, 653 F.3d 1276, 1283 n.1 (10th Cir. 2011). Applying this standard, we
conclude the district court properly recharacterized Petitioner’s claim as brought
under § 2241. Because Petitioner is in state custody proceeding pursuant to § 2241,
he must obtain a certificate of appealability before we may reach the merits. Montez
v. McKinna, 208 F.3d 862, 867 (10th Cir. 2000). For the reasons stated below, we
deny Petitioner a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal.
I.
Petitioner refused a prison housing unit assignment. In response to his failure
1
Because Petitioner’s complaint is properly construed as a habeas petition, our
jurisdiction arises under both 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and § 2253(a). Izzo v. Wiley, 620
F.3d 1257, 1258 (10th Cir. 2010).
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to comply with the assignment, Respondents allegedly initiated a disciplinary process
against Petitioner. Petitioner argues Respondents denied him the opportunity to have
a proper disciplinary hearing in which he could present evidence that he had doctors’
orders for a bottom bunk assignment. Petitioner asserts he received a conduct
violation. As a penalty, instead of being released on February 14, 2012, Plaintiff
states he now will be released on September 4, 2012. Petitioner also asserts
Respondents denied him the opportunity to use the inmate grievance policy. In his
petition, Petitioner contends Respondents’ actions violated his First, Fifth, Sixth,
Eighth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Petitioner seeks as relief: (1)
release from prison; (2) removal of Respondents from office; (3) monetary damages
of five million dollars for false imprisonment and wrongful incarceration; and (4)
imprisonment of Respondent Ramirez as well as compensation to Petitioner for
Ramirez allegedly falsifying documents. Before we can address the merits of
Petitioner’s claims, we must first decide whether the district court erred in construing
Petitioner’s complaint as a petition.
II.
Although the language of § 1983 covers the claims of a state prisoner attacking
the constitutionality of prison disciplinary proceedings that lead to the deprivation
of good time credits, the Supreme Court has found “an implicit exception from
§ 1983’s otherwise broad scope for actions that lie ‘within the core of habeas
corpus.’” Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74, 79 (2005). Accordingly, a § 1983
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action “will not lie when a state prisoner challenges ‘the fact or duration of his
confinement,’ and seeks either ‘immediate release from prison,’ or the ‘shortening’
of his term of confinement.” Id. (internal citations omitted). In addressing the
distinction between § 1983 and § 2241, the Supreme Court has pinpointed “the need
to ensure that state prisoners use only habeas corpus (or similar state) remedies when
they seek to invalidate the duration of their confinement—either directly through an
injunction compelling speedier release or indirectly through a judicial determination
that necessarily implies the unlawfulness of the State’s custody.” Id. at 81. Read
in their totality, the Supreme Court’s cases in this area indicate that a “state
prisoner’s § 1983 action is barred (absent prior invalidation)—no matter the relief
sought (damages or equitable relief), no matter the target of the prisoner’s suit (state
conduct leading to conviction or internal prison proceedings)—if success in that
action would necessarily demonstrate the invalidity of confinement or its duration.”
Id. at 81–82.
Applying these principles to this case, we conclude Petitioner’s claims are not
cognizable under § 1983. Petitioner seeks an injunction ordering his immediate
release and the removal of Respondents from their offices. In addition, he seeks
money damages for “false imprisonment” and “wrongful[] incarceration.” Success
for Petitioner would mean immediate release from confinement and would
necessarily imply the invalidity of his sentence. Accordingly, Petitioner’s claims lie
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at “the core of habeas corpus” and must be brought in a habeas petition. 2 Preiser,
411 U.S. at 489.
III.
Because we conclude the district court properly construed Petitioner’s
complaint as a habeas petition, Petitioner must obtain a certificate of appealability
to proceed on the merits because he is in state custody. See Montez, 208 F.3d at
867. At this point, we construe Petitioner’s appeal as an application for a certificate
of appealability. Fed. R. App. P. 22(b)(2). Petitioner must make “a substantial
showing of the denial of a constitutional right” to obtain a certificate of
appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). “When the district court denies a habeas
petition on procedural grounds without reaching the prisoner’s underlying
constitutional claim,” as the district court did here, a petitioner is not entitled to a
certificate of appealability unless he shows, “at least, that jurists of reason would
find it debatable whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a
constitutional right and that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the
district court was correct in its procedural ruling.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473,
484 (2000). We may exercise discretion to resolve either the procedural or the
2
On May 24, 2012, Petitioner mailed a “Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241” to this Court. The Clerk of Court sent Petitioner a
letter, informing him that this Court would not file the petition because an
application for a writ of habeas corpus must be filed in the appropriate district court,
not the court of appeals.
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substantive issue first. Id. at 485.
We chose to address the procedural issue first and conclude that reasonable
jurists could not debate that the district court permissibly dismissed this case for
Petitioner’s failure to demonstrate exhaustion of state remedies. 3 See Garza, 596
F.3d at 1203 (“The exhaustion of available administrative remedies is a prerequisite
for § 2241 habeas relief, although we recognize that the statute itself does not
expressly contain such a requirement.”).
Accordingly, we DENY Petitioner’s application for a certificate of
appealability and DISMISS the appeal.
Entered for the Court,
Bobby R. Baldock
United States Circuit Judge
3
On appeal, Petitioner filed a packet labeled “BOOK #2 Evidence/Exhibits.”
“Although these exhibits would be helpful to clarify [Petitioner’s petition], they were
not introduced in the district court. Consequently, we cannot review them and are
limited to the record below, in particular, the [petition].” Nutter v. Ward, 173 F.
App’x. 698, 699 n.2 (10th Cir. 2006) (unpublished) (citing Aero-Medical, Inc. v.
United States, 23 F.3d 328, 329 n.2 (10th Cir. 1994)).
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