Foss

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JEROME SMITH, No. 1:21-cv-1395 DAD AC Petitioner, v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TAMMY FOSS, Warden, Respondent. 16 Petitioner is a California state prisoner proceeding pro se with an application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The action proceeds on Claims One, Two and Five of the Second Amended Petition, ECF No. 27, which challenges petitioner’s 2017 conviction for murder and related offenses. Respondent has answered. ECF No. 41. Petitioner did not file a traverse and the time to do so has expired. BACKGROUND I. Proceedings in the Trial Court A. Overview Petitioner was charged in Stanislaus County with first degree murder, arson, and related offenses arising from a 2015 fire in a Modesto hotel room which killed a woman. The case was tried twice. At the first trial in April 2016, the prosecutor pursued a premeditated murder theory; the…