UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

TENTH CIRCUIT

SCOTT ANTHONY RIVARD,

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

L.E. BRUCE; CARLA STOVALL, Attorney General,

Respondents-Appellees.	No. 98-3207

(D.C. No. 95-3313-DES)

(District of Kansas)

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Before BALDOCK, EBEL and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

Petitioner-Appellant, Mr. Scott Rivard, was convicted of possession of cocaine in Kansas state court. After exhausting his state remedies, Mr. Rivard filed a petition for habeas corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The district court denied Mr. Rivard's petition. He now seeks a certificate of probable cause1 on the same three issues denied in the district court. First, Mr. Rivard claims that evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction. Second, he claims that investigating officers failed to preserve evidence essential to his defense. Third, he contends that the refusal of state authorities to convert his sentence pursuant to the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act constitutes a denial of equal protection.

Mr. Rivard has failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional or federal right, see Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 893 (1983), therefore we DENY him a certificate of probable cause and DISMISS the appeal.

The mandate shall issue forthwith.

ENTERED FOR THE COURT

David M. Ebel

Circuit Judge