Craig

A jury convicted Steven Eric Craig of threatening the life of or threatening to do serious bodily harm to a deputy public defender. (Pen. Code, § 76.) In bifurcated proceedings, the trial court found that Craig had suffered two “strike” priors. (§ 667, subds. (c), (e).) He was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life and appeals, claiming his motion to dismiss was erroneously denied and prosecutorial misconduct and jury instruction and sentencing errors occurred. We reject his contentions and affirm. In a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which we consolidated with the appeal for purposes of determining if an order to show cause should issue, he contends that his trial counsel was incompetent. We reject this contention and therefore deny his petition.

Facts

Craig, who had previously been convicted of, inter alia, murder, attempted murder and threatening the President of the United States, was convicted in September 1995 of misdemeanor assault and a misdemeanor drug offense, for which he received probation. The public defender who represented Craig during the latter case (hereafter, the victim) felt that the disposition in that case was “more than fair.” Craig did not…