Opinion
Case No. EDCV 12-1192 SVW (JPR)
07-17-2014
BENJAMIN MATTHEW MEDINA, Petitioner, v. RON BARNES, Warden, Respondent.
ORDER ACCEPTING FINDINGS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE
JUDGE AND DENYING PETITION
FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, the Court has reviewed the petition and traverse, the records and files herein, and the Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge. Although petitioner submitted no objections to the Report and Recommendation, the Court has conducted its own review of the state courts' denial of petitioner's claims, applying the deferential standard mandated by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). In doing so, the Court also considered the Ninth Circuit's recent opinion in Phillips v. Herndon, 730 F.3d 773 (9th Cir. Sept. 17, 2013), which was issued after the Report and Recommendation was filed. Phillips analyzed a claim that is similar to petitioner's first claim for relief based on the exclusion of hearsay evidence of co-defendant Berry-Vierwinden's alleged jailhouse confession. (Compare Pet. at 5 & Attachment A & Traverse at 4-8 with Phillips, 730 F.3d at 774-75.) In Phillips, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the California Court of Appeal's holding that the trial court properly excluded evidence of a third party's out of court confession as lacking sufficient indicia of trustworthiness neither constituted an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court law nor was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts. Phillips, 730 F.3d at 777-78. Based on the Magistrate Judge's analysis of this claim and the Phillips decision, the Court DENIES petitioner's first claim for relief. (See Report and Recommendation at 11-22.)
The Court also accepts and adopts the Report and Recommendation in full and on that basis DENIES petitioner's second, third, and fourth claims for relief.
For the foregoing reasons, the petition for writ of habeas corpus is hereby DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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STEPHEN V. WILSON
United States District Judge