Wyban v. Stancil

── Wyban v. Stancil ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: April 10, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 26-1008 Document: 13-1 Date Filed: 04/10/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT April 10, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court SCOTT WILLIAM WYBAN, Petitioner - Appellant, v. No. 26-1008 (D.C. No. 1:24-CV-01837-RMR) MOSES STANCIL, Director, CDOC; (D. Colo.) BARRY GOODRICH, Warden; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, Respondents - Appellees. _________________________________ ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY * _________________________________ Before BACHARACH, McHUGH, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Scott William Wyban, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, 1 seeks a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to challenge the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we deny his request for a COA and dismiss this matter. * This order is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.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 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 and Tenth Circuit Rule 32.1. Because Mr. Wyban appears in these proceedings without counsel, “we liberally 1 construe his filings, but we will not act as his advocate.” James v. Wadas, 724 F.3d 1312, 1315 (10th Cir. 2013).  Appellate Case: 26-1008 Document: 13-1 Date Filed: 04/10/2026 Page: 2 I. BACKGROUND In 2016, the State of Colorado charged Mr. Wyban with three counts of sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust (with two of these counts alleging that the abuse occurred as part of a pattern); one count of bribing a witness or victim; and one count of stalking. See People v. Wyban, No. 20CA1749, 2023 WL 12047253, at *1 (Colo. App. May 18, 2023) (unpublished). “The charges stemmed from allegations that [Mr.] Wyban sexually assaulted three sisters—his step-grandchildren—while they were placed in his and his wife’s home between 2002 and 2004.” Id. The police first investigated the children’s allegations of sexual abuse in 2006, when the children were respectively six, seven, and nine years old. However, the prosecutor’s office did not bring charges until 2016, after a case worker raised concerns about Mr. Wyban’s recent communications with one of the sisters and other people associated with her, such as staff members at the facility where she was staying. The case went to trial in 2017, and all three sisters testified against Mr. Wyban, explaining what details they could remember of the sexual assaults. They acknowledged in their testimony “that their memories of the time when they lived with [Mr.] Wyban and the assaults were incomplete.” Id. In his closing argument to the jury, Mr. Wyban’s trial counsel contended that the prosecution had not proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on “the sisters’ young ages at the time of their alleged assaults, admittedly incomplete memories, inconsistencies in their stories, and law enforcement’s deci