Teofilo Medina, Jr. v. Kevin Chappell

Teofilo Medina, Jr., a California death row inmate, appeals the district court’s denial of his petitions for a writ of habeas corpus. Medina killed four people in a month-long crime spree in 1984. For these murders, the California courts imposed two death sentences: one in Orange County, the subject of the habeas petition in No. 09-99015, and one in Riverside County, the subject of the petition in No. 09-99016. The Orange County proceedings became final first. Medina filed his federal habeas petition in the Orange County case before the effective date of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”). Medina’s Riverside County petition was filed after the effective date and is therefore subject to AEDPA review.

The petitions allege ineffective assistance of counsel at various phases of each trial, with a focus on claims of deficient performance at the penalty phases. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2258. Because counsel in the Orange County trial did not render deficient performance, and because the California Supreme Court could have reasonably concluded that any deficient performance in the Riverside County trial failed to…