Broils v. Simmons, 10th Cir. (2005)

F I L E D
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit
TENTH CIRCUIT
APR 5 2005
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
LARRY T. BROILS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
No. 04-3452
v.
District of Kansas
CHARLES SIMMONS; ATTORNEY

GENERAL OF KANSAS,
(D.C. No. 02-CV-3431-MLB)
Respondents - Appellees.
ORDER *
Before SEYMOUR, HARTZ, and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.
Larry T. Broils, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, seeks a certificate of

appealability (COA) that would allow him to appeal the district courts order
denying his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. 2254. See 28 U.S.C.
2253(c)(1)(A). Because we conclude that Mr. Broils has failed to make a
substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right, we deny his request
for a COA, and we dismiss the appeal. 28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(2).
This order is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of
the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.
*
I. Factual and Procedural Background

Mr. Broils was convicted in Kansas state court of raping a five-year-old
girl. After his direct appeal and collateral attack failed in the Kansas courts, he
filed a federal habeas petition. Before the district court, Mr. Broils asserted eight
claims: six of these claims involved ineffective assistance of counsel, one claim
was based on jury instruction error, and one claim involved improper juror
contact with the victims family. The district court held that Mr. Broils
procedurally defaulted on one of his ineffective assistance of counsel claims, and
denied relief on the merits with respect to the remainder of the claims. On
October 15, 2004, the district court entered an order denying Mr. Broilss
application for a COA. He has renewed his request here.
II. Standard of Review
A COA may issue only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of
the denial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(2). To make such a
showing, a petitioner must demonstrate that reasonable jurists could debate
whether . . . 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) (internal quotations omitted). This
requires a prisoner whose habeas petition was denied on procedural grounds to
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show 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.
Id. If a procedural bar is plain and the district court is correct to invoke it to
dispose of the case, a reasonable jurist could not conclude either that the district
court erred in dismissing the petition or that the petitioner should be allowed to
proceed further. Id.
III. Discussion
Mr. Broils makes four claims on appeal, each alleging a specific instance of
ineffective assistance of counsel. In order to demonstrate ineffective assistance
of counsel, a defendant must show that counsels performance was so deficient
that it fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that the deficient
performance prejudiced the defendant. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668,
688, 692 (1984).
Mr. Broils first claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to
call an expert witness. Mr. Broils did not raise this issue to the district court;
therefore, we will not consider the claim on appeal. See Trierweiler v. Croxton &
Trench Holding Corp., 90 F.3d 1523, 1538 (10th Cir. 1996).
Mr. Broils next claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to
object when the court excluded testimony from a defense witness. This claim was
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not presented in the state system. We may consider procedurally defaulted claims
only if the petitioner demonstrates cause and prejudice or a fundamental
miscarriage of justice. English v. Cody, 146 F.3d 1257, 1259 (10th Cir. 1998).
The district court found nothing in the record that amounted to cause for the
procedural default and Mr. Broils did not present arguments or evidence to
suggest actual innocence; nor does he make such arguments before us. The
district court dismissed the claim as procedurally defaulted. The procedural rule
that a defendant must present a claim to a state court before making the claim in a
federal court is plain. See Slack, 529 U.S. at 484; see also 28 U.S.C.
2254(b)(1)(A). A reasonable jurist could not conclude that the district court erred
in dismissing this claim.
Mr. Broilss third claim is that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing
to object to the jury instructions because they did not instruct the jury on the
lesser included offense of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. However,
the Kansas appellate court, relying on state precedent, held that aggravated
indecent liberties with a child is not a lesser included offense of rape because it
includes an additional element of intent not required to prove rape. State v.
Broils, No. 82,264 at 14 (Kan. Ct. App. August 4, 2000) (citing State v. Belcher,
4 P.3d 1137, 1141 (Kan. 1999)). Since Mr. Broils has not shown that there was
any error in the jury instructions, his trial counsel did not render ineffective
-4-
assistance by failing to object.

Finally, Mr. Broils claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing
to investigate alleged juror misconduct. Mr. Broils alleges that after the jury had
returned a verdict, he was informed that there were communications between
members of the victims families and jurors during breaks in the trial. Mr.
Broilss motion for a new trial was heard at sentencing. The court denied the
motion, finding that the allegations were too speculative and without testimony.
Mr. Broils did not challenge this ruling on direct appeal. During his state
collateral attack, Mr. Broils alleged that his counsel failed to investigate the
alleged misconduct prior to the sentencing hearing. The court denied relief,
finding that Mr. Broils had failed to develop the factual basis of the claim. The
Kansas appellate court relied on the second prong of Strickland to affirm, finding
that Mr. Broils was not prejudiced by an alleged failure to investigate, since by
the time of his state collateral attack, two years later, he had still been unable to
establish any factual support for his claim.
We agree with the Kansas Court of Appeals that if there were any merit to
petitioners claim of juror misconduct, he would have produced evidence to
support it in his state habeas proceedings. R. Doc. 18, at 16. Therefore, the
Kansas Court of Appeals decision was not an unreasonable application of
Strickland. See 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(1).
-5-
Accordingly, we DENY Mr. Broilss request for a COA and DISMISS this
appeal.
Entered for the Court,
Patrick Fisher, Clerk
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F I L E D

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

United States Court of Appeals

CHARLES SIMMONS; ATTORNEY

(D.C. No. 02-CV-3431-MLB)

Larry T. Broils, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, seeks a certificate of

I. Factual and Procedural Background

assistance by failing to object.

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