John Berge, III v. Marc Antrim

MEMORANDUM

Alaska state prisoner John W. Berge, III, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

1. Berge waived his claim that police obtained his confession in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel when trial counsel failed to press the state trial court for a ruling on this issue. Failure to press for a ruling constitutes forfeiture of the claim under Alaska state law. See, e.g., Marino v. State, 934 P.2d 1321, 1327 (Alaska Ct.App.1997). Procedural default under state law is an independent and adequate state ground for the Alaska

Court of Appeals’ denial of this claim, thus barring our review. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 729 , 111 S.Ct. 2546 , 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991), superseded by statute on other grounds, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (b)(2). Even were we to reach the merits of this claim, Berge concedes that there is no clearly established federal law on point.

2. The Alaska Court of Appeals’ denial of two of Berge’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims was not an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688, 694 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

(a) Even if…