Brookey West v. Sheryl Foster

MEMORANDUM

Brookey Lee West (“West”) appeals the district court’s denial of her 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

West argues that the Nevada Supreme Court violated the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) by acting contrary to clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court when it determined that the State produced sufficient evidence to establish that the victim died by the criminal agency of another (the “corpus delicti” element). See 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (d). Moreover, West seeks to expand the scope of the Certificate of Appealability granted by the district court. Because the history and facts of the case are familiar to the parties, we need not recount them here.

This court reviews the denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 de novo. Dows v. Wood, 211 F.3d 480, 484 (9th Cir.2000).

The standard of review by federal courts of state court decisions governed by AED-PA is a “highly deferential standard for evaluating state-court rulings, which demands that state-court decisions be given the benefit of the doubt.” Woodford v. Visciotti, 537 U.S. 19, 24 , 123 S.Ct. 357 , 154 L.Ed.2d…