Werber

MEMORANDUM ***

Arizona state prisoner Gregory David Werber appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition, which challenges his conviction and 12.5-year sentence for one count of schemes and artifices to defraud. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 (a). Reviewing de novo, Alvarado v. Hill, 252 F.3d 1066, 1068 (9th Cir.2001), we affirm.

Werber contends that his Sixth Amendment right of self-representation was violated when counsel represented him at the sentencing hearing. Our review of the record, however, reveals that Werber never made an unequivocal request to proceed exclusively pro se. 1 Thus, the state court’s denial of this claim was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of federal law as clearly established by the Supreme Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d); Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 835 , 95 S.Ct. 2525 , 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); see also Adams v. Carroll, 875 F.2d 1441, 1444 (9th Cir.1989) (stating that a “request to proceed without counsel [must] be unequivocal” and “[i]f [the defendant] equivocates, he is presumed to have requested the assistance of counsel”). The district court therefore properly denied…