Johnson v. Rankins

── Johnson v. Rankins ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: June 02, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 26-7002 Document: 13 Date Filed: 06/02/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT June 2, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court RAYMOND JOHNSON, Petitioner - Appellant. v. No. 26-7002 (D.C. No. 6:25-CV-00004-RAW-DES) WILLIAM “CHRIS” RANKINS, Warden, (E.D. Okla.) Respondent - Appellee, _________________________________ ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY * _________________________________ Before MORITZ, BALDOCK, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Raymond Johnson, an Oklahoma prisoner proceeding pro se, seeks a certificate of appealability (COA) to challenge the district court’s order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition as untimely. 1 Because reasonable jurists could not debate the district court’s determination that Johnson failed to satisfy the actual-innocence exception to the relevant timeliness rules, we deny a COA and dismiss this matter. Background Johnson is serving a 40-year sentence for armed robbery. According to the * This order is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But it may be cited for its persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A). 1 We liberally construe Johnson’s pro se filings, but we do not act as his advocate. See Yang v. Archuleta, 525 F.3d 925, 927 n.1 (10th Cir. 2008).  Appellate Case: 26-7002 Document: 13 Date Filed: 06/02/2026 Page: 2 Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA), Johnson robbed a convenience-store clerk at gunpoint after he entered the store and purchased a bottle of soda, went outside for about 20 minutes, and then returned and pulled out a gun to force the clerk to turn over the contents of the register. Video footage of the robbery was admitted at trial, but the perpetrator’s face wasn’t visible. However, an investigating officer retrieved a soda bottle from the parking lot that tested positive for Johnson’s DNA (as well as a cigarette butt that likewise contained Johnson’s DNA). In Johnson’s direct appeal, he advanced due-process and ineffective-assistance-of- counsel claims premised on the theory that the investigating officer had planted the soda bottle at the scene of the robbery. In support, Johnson submitted screenshots pulled from a video admitted at trial. The OCCA focused on the video itself, rather than the screenshots, and concluded that Johnson’s theory was “patently false” because “[t]he video does not show the detective planting evidence” but instead “shows that the bottle was in the parking lot prior to the detective’s arrival.” R. 132. The OCCA affirmed Johnson’s conviction and sentence on August 12, 2021, and denied his petition for rehearing on September 14, 2021. On January 6, 2026, Johnson filed his federal habeas petition, asserting claims of actual innocence and ineffective assistance of counsel, again premised on the alleged planting of evidence. The State moved to dismiss his petition as untimely. Johnson replied that his petition’s untimeliness was ex