Richard Montiel v. Kevin Chappell

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

RICHARD GALVAN MONTIEL, No. 15-99000 Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 1:96-cv-05412-

LJO-SAB

KEVIN CHAPPELL, Warden, San Quentin State Prison, Respondent-Appellee. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Lawrence J. O’Neill, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted April 16, 2021 San Francisco, California

Filed August 5, 2022

Before: William A. Fletcher, Andrew D. Hurwitz, and Michelle T. Friedland, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Friedland SUMMARY *

Habeas Corpus/Death Penalty

The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment denying Richard Galvan Montiel’s habeas corpus petition in which he challenged his California conviction and capital sentence for a 1979 robbery and murder.

The California Supreme Court affirmed Montiel’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal and later summarily rejected “on the merits” Montiel’s state habeas petition. Montiel argued primarily that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel under Strickland v.…