Leahy

MEMORANDUM *****

Petitioner Jennifer Gayle Leahy, and her co-defendants Richard Kesser and Stephen Chiara, were convicted in California state court of first degree murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. See Cal.Penal Code §§ 187(a), 190.2(a)(1), (a)(15). The California Court of Appeal affirmed, People v. Chiara, No. 93DA1422 (Cal. Ct.App., filed Dec. 12, 1995), and the California Supreme Court denied review. People v. Chiara, Nos. A060502, S051306 (Cal., filed March 14, 1996).

Petitioner thereafter petitioned the federal district court for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . The district court denied the petition, Leahy v. Farmon, 177 F.Supp.2d 985 (N.D.Cal.2001), and granted a Certificate of Appeal-ability on one issue: Whether Petitioner’s equal protection rights as enunciated in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), were violated when the prosecutor peremptorily challenged three Native Americans from the venire. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253 (c).

The facts and legal issues in this appeal are identical to those discussed and resolved in Kesser v. Cambra, No. 02-15475,…

dissenting.

I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent to the opinion filed in Kesser v. Cambra, No. 02-15475, 2004 WL 2903976 .