Lamarque

MEMORANDUM *

Jon Clark appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus. We review the denial de novo, 1 see McNeil *524 v. Middleton, 344 F.3d 988, 994 (9th Cir. 2003), and we affirm.

The conviction that is the subject of Clark’s habeas petition occurred in 1997 and resulted in a sentence of 26 years to life under California’s “three strikes” law. He contends that one of his strikes, a 1974 conviction after a guilty plea, was invalid. He also contends that his counsel in the 1997 proceedings rendered ineffective assistance by not challenging his 1974 conviction. Finally, he contends that his sentence violates the Eighth Amendment.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Lackawanna County Disk Attorney v. Coss, 532 U.S. 394 , 121 S.Ct. 1567 , 149 L.Ed.2d 608 (2001), bars Clark’s claim that his 1974 guilty plea was unconstitutionally obtained. A habeas petitioner may not challenge an enhanced sentence on the ground that a prior conviction was unconstitutionally obtained if that prior conviction is “no longer open to direct or collateral attack in its own right.” Id. at 403 . The only exception to this bar, which applies when a defendant’s prior conviction was…