United States v. Gieswein ( 2019 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT April 19, 2019
_________________________________
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. No. 18-6220
(D.C. Nos. 5:18-CV-00468-F
SHAWN J. GIESWEIN, and 5:07-CR-00120-F-1)
(W.D. Okla.)
Defendant - Appellant.
_________________________________
ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY*
_________________________________
Before HARTZ, PHILLIPS, and EID, Circuit Judges.
_________________________________
Shawn Gieswein, a pro se federal prisoner,1 seeks a certificate of appealability
(COA) to challenge the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. For the
reasons below, we deny Gieswein a COA.
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in 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. This order and judgment is not binding
precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral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
We liberally construe the briefs of pro se litigants. Toevs v. Reid, 685 F.3d
903, 911 (10th Cir. 2012).
BACKGROUND
In 2007, Gieswein was convicted in federal court of two crimes: witness
tampering and felon in possession of a firearm. After concluding that Gieswein
qualified as an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), the district court
sentenced him to 240 months’ imprisonment. In 2016, our court granted Gieswein
permission to file a second or successive motion to vacate in light of Johnson v.
United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015). See In re Gieswein, No. 16-6038 (April 27,
2016). The government conceded that under Johnson Gieswein no longer qualified as
an armed career criminal.
This led to the district court resentencing Gieswein without the armed career
criminal designation. Even so, the district court sentenced him to the same term—
240 months’ imprisonment. United States v. Gieswein, No. CIV-16-531-F, 2016 WL
11200222 (W.D. Okla. July 25, 2016).
In response, Gieswein filed a direct appeal, and in 2018 we affirmed the new
sentence. See United States v. Gieswein, 887 F.3d 1054 (10th Cir. 2018), cert.
denied, 139 S. Ct. 279 (Oct. 1, 2018). Though we agreed with Gieswein that the
district court had “erred in applying a circumstance-specific approach to determine
that his prior conviction for lewd molestation in Oklahoma state court qualified as a
‘forcible sex offense’ and thus a ‘crime of violence’ under the Sentencing
Guidelines,” we deemed the error harmless because the record showed that even
without this error, the district court would have imposed the same 240-month
sentence. Id. at 1056.
2
Then Gieswein filed a § 2255 motion to vacate his sentence, arguing that his
trial and appellate counsel had furnished him ineffective assistance during the second
sentencing proceeding. The district court denied the motion and denied the
application for a COA. From us, Gieswein now seeks a COA to review this decision.
To obtain a COA, Gieswein must make “a substantial showing of the denial of a
constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253. To do so, he “must demonstrate that
reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional
claims debatable or wrong.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000).
DISCUSSION
Gieswein argues that both his trial counsel and appellate counsel provided
ineffective assistance concerning his resentencing. Proving ineffective assistance of
counsel requires a two-part showing. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687
(1984). First, Gieswein must prove that the counsel’s performance was “deficient”—
that is, the representation “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness.” Id. at
688. Second, he must establish “prejudice”—that is, “a reasonable probability that,
but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been
different.” Id. at 694. “A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to
undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id.In his motion, Gieswein raises four arguments supporting his Strickland
claims: (1) that his resentencing attorneys failed to challenge his witness-tampering
conviction; (2) that they failed to challenge his felon-in-possession conviction;
(3) that they failed to argue that his prior state court conviction for destruction
3
of property by explosive device was not a crime of violence under the guidelines,
which if successful would have lowered his guidelines range; and (4) that they failed
to challenge several errors by the resentencing court—specifically, certain statements
made by the court, the court’s decision to run his sentences consecutively, and the
court’s balancing of the § 3553(a) sentencing factors—and failed to raise nationwide
sentencing disparities.
Except for the sentencing-disparities argument, the district court considered
and soundly rejected all of these arguments. Because we agree with the district
court’s assessment of the claims, we need not restate the reasoning here. See Chivers
v. Reaves, 750 F. App’x 769, 770 (10th Cir. 2019) (“When a district court accurately
takes the measure of a case and articulates a cogent rationale, we see no useful
purpose for a reviewing court to write at length.”). And because we agree that
reasonable jurists could not debate the correctness of the district court’s ruling, we
deny Gieswein a COA. See Slack, 529 U.S. at 484. As for Gieswein’s argument that
his attorneys should have raised the issue of disparities in national sentencing, neither
his petition nor his brief on appeal provides any support that his counsels’ efforts fell
below an “objective standard of reasonableness.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687–88; see
also United States v. Cook, 45 F.3d 388, 394 (10th Cir. 1995) (“The Sixth
Amendment does not require an attorney to raise every nonfrivolous issue on
appeal.”). We therefore find that he has failed to meet his burden to prove
ineffectiveness on this basis. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687–88.
4
Finally, Gieswein has submitted a supplementary brief raising additional
grounds for relief. We generally decline to consider arguments not raised in the
§ 2255 petition. See United States v. Rodriguez, 768 F.3d 1270, 1272 (10th Cir.
2014). And even if we were to consider them, these claims have no merit.2
CONCLUSION
We deny Gieswein’s application for a COA and dismiss this appeal. His
motion to proceed in forma pauperis is granted.
Entered for the Court
Gregory A. Phillips
Circuit Judge
2
First, Gieswein seeks to undermine his felon-in-possession conviction by
directing us to cases he says apply the strict scrutiny standard of review in cases
involving the Second Amendment. Appellant Suppl. Br. at 1–4. But, for starters,
Gieswein’s attorneys could not challenge the underlying conviction during
resentencing. Gieswein’s conviction became final long ago, see 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f)
(allowing § 2255 motions no later than one-year after the conviction), and a Johnson
resentencing does not open the door to challenge his conviction. Any challenge
brought by Gieswein’s counsel would have been untimely under the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 33(b).
Second, citing Third Circuit cases, Gieswein alleges a Speedy Trial violation,
though he admits that he “did not raise this issue in [his] § 2255 petition” because “he
did not discover this violation until further research.” Appellant Suppl. Br. at 5. Here
again, for the same reasons stated above, Gieswein’s counsel at resentencing could not
challenge his underlying conviction during his Johnson resentencing. Because
reasonable jurists could not debate these points, his application fails on these points
too. See Slack, 529 U.S. at 484.
5