Ambris

MEMORANDUM **

Antonio J. Ambris (“Ambris”) appeals the district court’s denial of his habeas corpus petition for failure to state a claim cognizable under federal habeas review. Ambris claims that his state criminal trial was fundamentally unfair because of prosecutorial misconduct, violating Ambris’s Sixth Amendment right to “assistance of counsel and to confront the evidence against him” and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Although Ambris states a claim cognizable under federal habeas review, we conclude that the claim lacks merit. Accordingly, we affirm.

1. Standard of Review

We review the district court’s denial of a habeas petition de novo. Clark v. Murphy, 331 F.3d 1062, 1067 (9th Cir.2003). To review the state court decision underlying this habeas petition, we look to “the last reasoned decision, the state appellate court’s decision.” Shackleford v. Hubbard, 234 F.3d 1072 , 1079 n. 2 (9th Cir.2000). Because Ambris’s claim is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), we grant habeas relief only if the state court’s decision was “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as…