James Calloway v. Randy Grounds

MEMORANDUM

James Calloway (“Calloway”) appeals the district court’s denial of his summary judgment motion and the granting of Appellee’s motion to dismiss Calloway’s petition for habeas corpus.

We review de novo a district court’s denial of a petition for habeas corpus. Estrada v. Scribner, 512 F.3d 1227, 1235 (9th Cir.2008). When reviewing a state court’s imposition of a criminal sentence, we must “look to the last reasoned state court decision.” Van Lynn v. Farmon, 347 F.3d 735, 738 (9th Cir.2003). Here, that decision was the unpublished California Court of Appeal opinion in People v. Calloway, 2002 WL 31053941 (2002). Because that decision was filed after the effective date of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), this appeal is subject to the AEDPA. See Martinez v. Garcia, 379 F.3d 1034, 1037 (9th Cir.2004). Accordingly, we may grant habeas relief only if 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; or resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable…