Michael Alvarado v. R.Q. Hickman, Warden, Acting Warden of Mule Creek State Prison

Michael Alvarado was convicted of second degree murder and attempted robbery and is currently serving a 15-year to life sentence in California state prison. Alvarado’s conviction was obtained primarily based on statements he made during a two-hour interrogation that occurred when he was 17 years old. Alvarado now seeks a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was deprived of his Fifth Amendment rights in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). The district court denied Alvarado’s request for relief. Our review of this case is governed by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), which permits us to grant a federal writ of habeas corpus only if the underlying state court decision is either contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1).

In Haley v. Ohio, 332 U.S. 596 , 68 S.Ct. 302 , 92 L.Ed. 224 (1948), the Supreme Court established the legal principle that juvenile defendants are, in general, more susceptible to police coercion than adults; as such, due process demands that a defendant’s juvenile…