Merolando Warren v. Tony Hedgpeth

MEMORANDUM

California state prisoner Merolando N. Warren appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . We review a district court’s denial of a habeas corpus petition de novo, see Stanley v. Cullen, 633 F.3d 852, 859 (9th Cir.2011), and we affirm.

Warren contends that the prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges to excuse four African-American female jurors violated Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The state court’s conclusion that the peremptory strikes were not motivated by purposeful discrimination was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law, nor was it based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in state court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d); Felkner v. Jackson, — U.S.-,-, 131 S.Ct. 1305, 1307 , 179 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011) (per curiam).

We construe Warren’s additional arguments as a motion to expand the certificate of appealability. So construed, the motion is denied. See 9th Cir. R. 22-1(e); Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1104-05 (9th Cir.1999) (per…