David Elliott v. James Yates

MEMORANDUM

California state prisoner David Elliott appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we affirm.

In 2004, Elliott was charged in California Superior Court with first degree burglary, child molestation, and indecent exposure. At trial, Elliott sought to introduce out-of-court statements that he had made to a police investigator. The court admitted some of the statements, but excluded others as hearsay not subject to any exception.

A jury convicted Elliott of first degree burglary and misdemeanor assault, which is a lesser included offense of child molestation. The jury also found true certain sentencing enhancement allegations related to the burglary charge, that Elliott had pled guilty to felony burglary and felony assault charges in 1988, and that he had been convicted of felony burglary again in 1995. Relying on those findings, the court sentenced Elliott to a prison term of twenty-five years to life under the California Three Strikes Law, Cal. Penal Code § 1170.12 , plus an additional ten years of enhancements under Cal. Penal…