Jesse Zuniga v. Tom Felker

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner-Appellant Jesse Zuniga appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . As the facts and procedural history are familiar to the parties, we do not recite them here except as necessary to explain our disposition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253. We affirm.

Zuniga contends that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights by admitting the clerk’s records of his co-defendants’ guilty pleas into evidence. The Confrontation Clause pro hibits the admission of “testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless he was unavailable to testify, and the defendant had had a prior opportunity for cross examination.” Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 53-54 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 , 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). The “core class” of testimonial statements includes affidavits or declarations “made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement would be available for use at a later trial.” Id. at 51-52 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 . This is because such testimonial evidence is “functionally identical to live, in-court…