Levi Jackson v. Charles Ryan

MEMORANDUM

Arizona state prisoner Levi Jackson appeals the district court’s denial of his peti tion for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction for murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery. We affirm. Because the parties are familiar with the history of the case, we need not recount it in detail.

Jackson asserts that the state trial court’s felony murder instruction violated his due process rights by relieving the prosecution of its burden to prove each element of the offense and, therefore, his counsel violated his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel by failing to object to the jury instruction. Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), Jackson must show that counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient and that, but for counsel’s errors, there is a reasonable probability that the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 687, 694 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 . We need not determine whether Jackson has shown that his counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient. Whether it was or not, he has not established prejudice within the meaning of Strickland , because he has not shown a…