Lester Ochoa v. Ron Davis

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

LESTER ROBERT OCHOA, No. 16-99008 Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 2:99-cv-11129-DSF

RONALD DAVIS, Warden, Respondent-Appellee. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Dale S. Fischer, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 23, 2021 San Francisco, California

Filed November 1, 2021

Before: Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Richard R. Clifton, and Daniel P. Collins, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Clifton SUMMARY*

Habeas Corpus / Death Penalty

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of Lester Ochoa’s habeas corpus petition, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging the constitutionality of his conviction and death sentence imposed in California state court.

Ochoa was convicted in a single trial in 1988 for a series of violent crimes against three female victims over a six- month period the previous year, including murder, kidnapping, forcible rape, and assault with a deadly weapon.

This court previously granted Ochoa a certificate of appealability as to five claims, which…