Huu Thanh Nguyen v. Silvia Garcia, Warden Edward S. Alameida, Jr., Director, Director of Corrections, California State Department of Corrections

In Wainwright v. Greenfield, 474 U.S. 284, 295 , 106 S.Ct. 634 , 88 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986), the Supreme Court held that prosecution evidence the defendant maintained silence after his arrest, offered to show he wasn’t all that crazy, and to rebut defendant’s insanity defense in the guilt phase of trial, constituted a violation of due process. Here, we consider whether Wainwright , or other applicable federal law, prohibits the prosecutor’s mention that defendant requested counsel to show he was able to cooperate in his own defense — not at the guilt phase of trial but during a hearing to determine whether the defendant was mentally competent to stand trial. We conclude that the. state court decision finding Wainwright inapplicable to a state court competency hearing is not “contrary to” clearly established federal law and therefore affirm the denial of appellant’s petition for writ of habeas corpus brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 .

I.

In the early morning of November 15, 1997, a fight broke out at a billiard hall in Stanton, California. The fight continued in the parking lot of the billiard hall and shots were fired. Two of the shots fired struck the outer wall of the billiard…