Francisco Javier Guizar v. Wayne Estelle, Warden, and Attorney General of the State of California

Francisco Javier Guizar was convicted of aiding and abetting first degree murder. He petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus and designated two “grounds” in his petition. He alleged that 1) he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to counsel, and therefore the state used his confession at trial in violation of his sixth amendment rights; and 2) the trial court erroneously failed to instruct the jury as to the requisite intent for aiding and abetting, and his conviction therefore violated the due process clause. As part of his first ground, Guizar alleged that the police failed to inform him that he was entitled to have counsel present both prior to and during his interrogation.

Guizar’s claim that he was not informed of his Miranda rights (the “Miranda claim”) is factually related to his claim that his waiver of his Miranda rights was not knowing and intelligent (the “waiver claim”). However, Guizar did not raise the Miranda claim in the state courts. Because the substance of the two claims differs, we cannot consider the Miranda claim to have been “fairly presented” to the state courts, as is required by the exhaustion doctrine. See Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4,…