Phillip Dorsett v. Domingo Uribe, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Phillip Dorsett was convicted in California state court of second-degree murder for shooting and killing Jesse Fuji-no, after a trial in which he claimed he shot in self-defense. He claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to interview Abel Soto, a member of Fujino’s gang present at the scene of the shooting, who gave a declaration after Dorsett was convicted corroborating his self-defense claim. Dorsett’s state habeas petition was denied without opinion by the California Supreme Court, and his federal habeas petition was denied by the district court. Because we conclude that our prior decision in Riley v. Payne, 352 F.3d 1313 (9th Cir.2003), requires granting Dorsett’s ha-beas petition, we reverse and remand with instructions to grant a conditional writ of habeas corpus.

We review de novo the district court’s decision to grant or deny a writ of habeas corpus. Lewis v. Mayle, 391 F.3d 989, 995 (9th Cir.2004). Dorsett’s petition can be granted only if the California Supreme Court’s decision “(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the…