David Hill v. T. Virga

MEMORANDUM

David Hill appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . He argues that his rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated by the admission of hearsay relied on by the state’s expert witness. Hill also argues that his Due Process rights were violated by the admission of the expert’s testimony, the testimony of non-expert police officers, and evidence of gang crimes and shootings. Under the highly deferential standard of AEDPA, we cannot conclude that the California Court of Appeal unreasonably denied Hill’s claims.

The Supreme Court has not clearly established that the admission of out-of-court statements relied on by an expert violates the Confrontation Clause. See Williams v. Illinois, - U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2221, 2228 , 183 L.Ed.2d 89 (2012) (plurality opinion) (concluding that the statements at issue were not offered for their truth or were not testimonial); id. at 2247-48 (Breyer, J., concurring) (describing a doctrinal division regarding whether expert basis testimony is “testimonial”); id. at 2255 (Thomas, J., concurring in judgment) (concluding the statements at issue were not…