Marcus Chavarria v. Jim Hamlet

MEMORANDUM

State prisoner Marcus Daniel Chavarria (“Chavarria”) appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claims that California Evidence Code Section 1109, which provided for the admission at his trial of certain propensity evidence, violated his rights to due process and equal protection. He also claims that the jury instructions regarding the propensity evidence violated due process, and that his appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to raise this issue in his direct appeal from his conviction. We affirm.

The California Court of Appeal rejected Chavarria’s due process and equal protection challenges to Section 1109 on the merits. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) therefore precludes federal habeas relief unless the state court’s decision was “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1). Because the Supreme Court has expressly left open the question of whether a state law permitting the introduction of propensity evidence would violate due process, see Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62 , 75…