Jesse Andrews v. Kevin Chappell

Jesse James Andrews appeals from the district court’s denial of all but one of the claims raised in his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . The state cross-appeals the district court’s grant of relief on Andrews’s claim that his counsel’s assistance was ineffective at the penalty phase of his capital murder trial. We dismiss as unripe the claim the district court certified for appeal, and deny Andrews’s motion to expand the certificate of appealability to include uncertified claims. We reverse its grant of relief on the ineffective assistance claim because, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1), the California Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply Supreme Court precedent in concluding that Andrews was not prejudiced by any deficient performance by his counsel.

I

A

On December 9, 1979, police were called to a Los Angeles apartment, where they found the bodies of three murder victims. People v. Andrews, 49 Cal.3d 200 , 260 Cal.Rptr. 583 , 776 P.2d 285, 288 (1989). The murder victims were Preston Wheeler, who lived in the apartment, Patrice Brandon, and Ronald Chism. Id. The California Supreme Court described the murder scene as…