Cockett

Hawaii state prisoner Janice Cockett (“Cockett”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of her federal habeas corpus petition as limited by 28 U.S.C. § 2254 which challenged her 1995 conviction for the murder of her husband, Frank Cockett. The district court dismissed Cockett’s Confrontation Clause claim and claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel as procedurally defaulted because it found that the Hawaii Supreme Court had relied on an independent and adequate state procedural ground in denying the claims. We affirm.

Because our decision turns on the issue of procedural default, we recite only those facts which are pertinent to our analysis. In November 1986, Frank Cockett’s body was found in the trunk of a car parked at the Ala Moana shopping mall in Honolulu, Hawaii. Cockett was indicted for his murder in February 1991. Her trial on the murder charge began in March 1995. Billy Makaila, a witness called by the state, was given immunity from prosecution but denied that Cockett had contacted him about Mlling Frank Cockett and that he had told Jaymie Mineshema certain details about the murder including that he helped take Frank Cockett’s body to the shopping mall.…