Shafer

MEMORANDUM **

Darrell Lee Shafer, a prisoner in the state of Washington, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The district court denied the petition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , and we affirm.

In 1996, a Yakima County jury convicted Shafer on five counts of First Degree Rape of Child, two counts of First Degree Child Molestation, and one count of Attempted First Degree Child Molestation, all arising from Shafer’s rape and molestation of three young girls. At trial, the prosecution presented two expert witnesses: Robyn Light, an expert in interviewing child sexual abuse victims; and Dr. Roy Simms, a pediatrician who had conducted a physical examination of one of Shafer’s alleged victims.

Shafer contends that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of Ms. Light and Dr. Simms, and that these errors violated his right to due process. Shafer argues that the district court should not have admitted Ms. Light’s testimony because: (1) the sensory perception hypothesis on which her testimony was based is not an accepted or scientifically supported…