Shamburger

*524 MEMORANDUM *

California state prisoner Harold B. Shamburger appeals the district court’s order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his 1985 murder conviction.

The certificate of appealability limits our review to a single issue: “whether petitioner’s due process rights were violated at his murder trial when testimony and physical evidence concerning a separate murder were admitted over his objection.” See Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 478 , 120 S.Ct. 1595 , 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000). The springboard for petitioner’s claim is the testimony of a principal trial witness claiming that Shamburger had previously admitted committing a separate murder. The testimony that Shamburger had acknowledged committing an earlier murder was undisputably admissible in evidence as a statement of a party opponent. See Cal. Evid.Code § 1220. Shamburger objected at trial not to that statement, but to the witness’ further testimony about the circumstances surrounding Shamburger’s earlier statement. The description of those circumstances was highly prejudicial to the defendant, because the circumstances included the fact that when Sham-burger admitted the…