Cyprien

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner-Appellant Anthony Cyprien appeals the district court’s order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging his California state conviction and 26 years to life sentence for the murder of Clarence Whalen in 1985. The jury was given two theories on which it could convict Cyprien: (1) that he actually shot Whalen (“actual shooter theory”); or (2) that he aided and abetted in the shooting of Whalen (“aiding and abetting theory”). The jury convicted Cyprien, but because they returned a general verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, it is not possible to determine on which theory Cyprien was convicted.

Cyprien raises several claims in his ha-beas corpus petition. First, he claims that the prosecution suppressed evidence that could have impeached a prosecution witness who testified that Cyprien shot Whalen. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 , 83 S.Ct. 1194 , 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Second, Cyprien clams that the prosecution intentionally elicited false testimony from the aforementioned prosecution witness, failed to correct that testimony, and affirmatively relied on that testimony in its closing argument, and thereby violated…