Rodney Emil v. Renee Baker

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Rodney Emil appeals from the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. We affirm.

Emil argues that the district court erred in concluding that he failed to exhaust his federal claim in state court. A federal court may not grant habeas relief to a state prisoner unless he has properly exhausted his remedies in state court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (b); Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 731 , 111 S.Ct. 2546 , 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). “Our rule is that a state prisoner has not ‘fairly presented’ (and thus exhausted) his federal claims in state court unless he specifically indicated to that court that those claims were based on federal law.” Lyons v. Crawford, 232 F.3d 666, 668 (9th Cir. 2000), amended on other grounds, 247 F.3d 904 (9th Cir. 2001). “[F]or purposes of exhaustion, a citation to a state case analyzing a federal constitutional issue serves the same purpose as a citation to a federal case analyzing such an issue.” Peterson v. Lampert, 319 F.3d 1153, 1158 (9th Cir. 2003).

In this case, Emil fairly presented his federal claim to the Supreme Court of Nevada. In his brief on direct appeal, he argued that his due process…