Josef Michael Jensen v. Cheryl K. Pliler, Warden

Josef Michael Jensen appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction for two counts of first degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Jensen contends his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights were violated when, during his state court trial, attorney Todd Rash was permitted to testify to out-of-court statements made to him by the unavailable declarant George Taylor. Taylor had made the statements to Rash, his attorney, when Taylor was in jail under arrest for murder. After Taylor was released from jail, he was killed. Jensen argues that admitting Taylor’s statements into evidence at his trial violated his Confrontation Clause rights as set forth in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 , 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004).

We affirm the district court’s denial of Jensen’s habeas petition. The unavailable declarant Taylor’s statements to his attorney were not “testimonial” under Crawford , and were properly admitted into evidence at Jensen’s trial.

I. JURISDICTION

The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and…