Flowers

MEMORANDUM *

Bert Rice appeals the district court’s order granting Damon Flowers’s petition for the writ of habeas corpus. In its judgment and order filed on March 29, 2001, the district court articulated three bases for granting Rice’s petition: 1) insufficiency of the evidence, 2) prosecutorial misconduct, and 3) ineffective assistance of counsel. In addition, Flowers urges that the order may be upheld because of instructional error. For the reasons stated below, we reverse.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

When hearing a sufficiency of the evidence claim in habeas, the court must determine whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, would permit any rational trier of fact to *693 conclude that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). “Circumstantial evidence and inferences drawn from [the evidence] may be sufficient to sustain a conviction.” United States v. Lewis, 787 F.2d 1318, 1323 (9th Cir.), amended on denial of reh’g, 798 F.2d 1250 (9th Cir. 1986). Personal testimony, even confused and contradictory testimony, can support a conviction. See…