Manuel Gomez Lopez v. D. Runnels

MEMORANDUM

Manuel Gomez Lopez appeals from the district court’s denial of his habeas petition challenging his state conviction on two counts of making terrorist threats in violation of California Penal Code § 422 (1999). Lopez asserts that: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for making a terrorist threat against his coworker; (2) the exclusion of evidence that his coworker had a history of mental illness violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses; (3) the erroneous admission of evidence of a prior bad act rendered his trial fundamentally unfair; and (4) the ineffective assistance of his counsel denied him due process due to cumulative errors. Lopez filed a timely notice of appeal. We review his request for relief under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AED-PA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d).

1. The sufficiency of the evidence is determined “by whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 307 , 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Under AED-PA…