George Lee Hughes v. R.G. Borg

George Hughes, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, 699 F.Supp. 779 . Hughes alleges three grounds for habeas relief: (1) prejudicial error at trial due to jury and prosecu-torial misconduct, because a search warrant affidavit and a police report, which had not been admitted into evidence, were sent into the jury room during deliberations; (2) denial of his sixth amendment right to counsel due to ineffective assistance by Hughes’ appellate counsel; and (3) denial of due process as a result of the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury that it must find intent to kill before convicting the defendant of special circumstances felony murder. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1982), and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

In 1982, George Hughes was tried in California Superior Court for first degree murder with special circumstances, kidnapping, robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm. The facts presented at trial were as follows: At 3:00 a.m. on November 8, 1980, after closing and cleaning up Church’s Fried Chicken restaurant in El Cerrito, California, Mary Washington, Sammy Lewis, Duane Mackie,…