Alejando Aviles-Perez v. Robert Legrand

MEMORANDUM

Alejando Aviles-Perez appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we review denial of the writ de novo. Cheney v. Washington, 614 F.3d 987, 993 (9th Cir. 2010). We affirm.

The Nevada Supreme Court reasonably determined that the state trial court’s Bat-son ruling constituted a finding of fact that the state did not use its peremptory strikes in a racially motivated manner, and that determination is entitled to a presumption of correctness. See Williams v. Rhoades, 354 F.3d 1101, 1108 (9th Cir. 2004). A review of the voir dire record, including a comparative juror analysis conducted here in the first instance, confirms that the Supreme Court of Nevada did not make an objectively unreasonable determination of the facts in upholding the state trial court’s conclusion. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(2); see also Sifuentes v. Brazelton, 825 F.3d 506, 517-18 (9th Cir. 2016). The state’s proffered justifications for the four peremptory strikes challenged here have support in the record and are neither implausible nor fantastic. See Sifuentes, 825 F.3d at…