Chades Ex Rel. Gallegos v. Lattimore

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner-Appellant Karen Denise Chades appeals the district court’s dismissal of her 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. Chades claims there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to support the jury’s conviction of murder in the first degree. We affirm the district court.

The United States Supreme Court has held that “the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a defendant in a criminal case against conviction ‘except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged.’ ” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (quoting In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364 , 90 S.Ct. 1068 , 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970)). Section 2254 petitioners raising Jackson claims face considerable hurdles. See Davis v. Woodford, 384 F.3d 628, 639 (9th Cir.2004). The reviewing court must first “consider the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to the prosecution,” and then determine whether, based on that evidence, any “rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Nevils, 598 F.3d 1158, 1164 (9th…