Timothy Shea v. Connie Gipson

MEMORANDUM

Timothy Kevin Shea appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We affirm.

(1) Shea first asserts that his constitutional rights were violated because the jury instructions regarding his crimes of lewd or lascivious acts committed upon a child under the age of fourteen years allowed the jury to return a verdict of guilt on a standard other than beyond a reasonable doubt. Applying AEDPA’s deferential standard of review, we hold that the state court did not unreasonably apply clearly established Supreme Court Law. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d). Because of a directive of the California Court of Appeal, which was designed to protect defendants, the trial court combined both the substantive offense elements, and the statute of limitations elements into one instruction, but carefully separated the elements and burdens of persuasion applica--ble to each. The jury was instructed that it had to find Shea guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on the former, but, for the most part, only needed to apply a preponderance of evidence burden to the latter, which did not reduce the burden of persuasion regarding the crime itself. At…