Rawle
Rawle v. Wyoming Department of Corrections State Penitentiary Warden
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Holmes, J.
ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY *
Brian Dewayne Rawle, a Wyoming state prisoner, seeks a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to challenge the district court’s denial of his application for a writ of habe-as corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253(a) and conclude that Mr. Rawle has failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. Thus, we deny the request for a COA and dismiss the appeal.
BACKGROUND
In April 2005, a jury convicted Mr. Rawle of felony murder, attempted aggra *770 vated robbery, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery under Wyoming law. Although Mr. Rawle appealed his conviction on several grounds, he neglected to raise an ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim on direct appeal. In April 2007, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed his conviction. Rawle v. State, 155 P.3d 1024, 1031 (Wyo.2007).
In June 2008, Mr. Rawle filed a petition for post-conviction relief in Wyoming state court. Mr. Rawle argued that he was deprived of his right to the effective assistance of trial counsel, pursuant to the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, because…