Dawson

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DAVID THOMAS DAWSON,  No. 06-99004 Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. v.  CV-89-00246-JDS MICHAEL MAHONEY, Warden, Montana (Billings) Respondent-Appellee.  ORDER

Filed June 8, 2006

Before: William C. Canby, Jr., Thomas G. Nelson, and Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Circuit Judges.

ORDER

Montana state prisoner David Thomas Dawson was con- victed and sentenced to death in 1987 for three counts of deliberate homicide. In 2004, Mr. Dawson moved to dis- charge his federal habeas counsel, to waive further habeas proceedings, and for the appointment of an independent expert to determine his competency. The federal district court appointed two independent mental health experts to evaluate Mr. Dawson and ordered the parties to provide all relevant materials to those experts. After considering the experts’ reports, the federal district court found that Mr. Dawson is competent to waive further proceedings and has made that decision knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. On Decem- ber 12, 2005, the federal district court granted Mr. Dawson’s motion…