Eric Allen Peterson v. Robert Lampert

Eric Allen Peterson appeals the district court’s dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition based on his failure properly to exhaust in the Oregon state courts his ineffective assistance of counsel claim under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. We hold that Peterson did not fairly present his federal claim to the Oregon Supreme Court because, on the face of his petition for review in that court, he expressly limited his claim to Oregon constitutional law. We therefore affirm.

I

In 1992, Peterson pled guilty in Oregon state court to one count of sodomy and one count of sex abuse. The Oregon Circuit Court sentenced him to 182 months on the sodomy count and 18 months on the sex abuse count, to be served consecutively. Peterson appealed his conviction and sentence to the Oregon Court of Appeals, which affirmed without opinion in 1994.

Peterson then petitioned for post-conviction relief in the Oregon Circuit Court claiming denial of his right to counsel under the federal and state constitutions, as well as denial of due process, equal protection of the laws, and a fair hearing under federal and state law. The circuit court denied…