Woods

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

EARNEST CASSELL WOODS, II,  No. 05-55302 Petitioner, v.  D.C. No.

CV-04-00915-NAJ

TOM L. CAREY,

OPINION

Respondent.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Napoleon A. Jones, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted April 11, 2008* Pasadena, California

Filed May 12, 2008

Before: Alfred T. Goodwin, Harry Pregerson, and Dorothy W. Nelson, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge D.W. Nelson

*The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). COUNSEL

Kurt David Hermansen, Law Office of Kurt David Herman- sen, San Diego, California, for the petitioner.

Heather Bushman, Office of the Attorney General, San Diego, California, for the respondent.

OPINION

D.W. NELSON, Senior Circuit Judge:

Earnest Cassell Woods, a California state prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas cor- pus petition. The district court dismissed the petition, con- cluding it was barred as successive under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b).…