Statler

MEMORANDUM **

Charles Vasil Statler (“Statler”) appeals the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus claiming that errors in the instruction given to the jury require reversal of his conviction. On January 8,1999, Statler was charged with second degree murder for hitting Raymond Churchill (“Church *23 ill”) on the forehead with a skillet, an act that resulted in Churchill’s death.

At trial, the judge instructed the jury that it could convict on either one of the two theories of second-degree murder presented by the prosecution: (1) implied malice murder requiring that the defendant (a) performed an intentional act, (b) the natural consequences of which are dangerous to human life, and (c) which was deliberately performed with knowledge of the danger to, and with conscious disregard for human life; or (2) felony-murder, in which the killing “occurred during the commission or attempted commission of an assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.” The jury returned a general verdict convicting Statler of second-degree murder (for which he received 15 years to life), without specifying the theory of conviction, implied malice or…