Green
Green v. Lampert
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Daniel Green (“Green”) appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus. Green asserts that the Oregon State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision (“Board”) retroactively applied to his case a statutory amendment which, he argues, made it more difficult for him to *12 obtain release from prison and thereby violated the Ex Post Facto Clause. The district court denied his petition. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we recount them only as necessary to explain our decision. We affirm.
We review de novo a district court’s denial of a habeas corpus petition. See Murtishaw v. Woodford, 255 F.3d 926, 939 (9th Cir.2001). The Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits “laws that retroactively alter the definition of crimes or increase the punishment for criminal acts.” See California Dep’t of Corr. v. Morales, 514 U.S. 499, 504 , 115 S.Ct. 1597 , 131 L.Ed.2d 588 (1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). A law violates the Ex Post Facto Clause if it “worsens conditions imposed by its predecessor,” by, for example, making parole more difficult to obtain. See Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. 24, 33 , 101 S.Ct. 960 , 67 L.Ed.2d 17 (1981).