Arellano

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner Ismael Arellano (“Arellano”), 1 a California state prisoner, appeals the *86 district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief. Arellano was convicted of first-degree murder in 1989, and was sentenced to a term of 27-years-to-life. Arellano’s habeas petition raises claims of prosecutorial misconduct, improper admission of prejudicial character evidence and ineffective assistance of counsel. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for a limited evidentiary hearing.

Arellano argues that his due process rights were violated by the prosecutor’s misconduct during closing argument. In order to succeed in his claim, Arellano must show that the prosecutor’s misconduct “so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.” Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643 , 94 S.Ct. 1868 , 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974). During closing arguments, the prosecutor argued to the jury that Arellano’s main alibi witness-his wife’s grandmother-had lied on the stand about Arellano’s whereabouts on the date of the murder. Even though there was no direct evidence…