Dawson

MEMORANDUM **

State prisoner Dawson appeals pro se from an order denying his federal habeas petition filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 and 2254, and we have jurisdiction over this timely appeal under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253. We affirm.

The sole issue on which we issued a certificate of appealability is whether the state trial court violated Dawson’s due process rights by failing to provide adequate instructions on his theory of the defense.

Because the California Supreme Court summarily denied review, we review the decision of the California Court of Appeal as the “last reasoned” state decision. Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797, 803-04 , 111 S.Ct. 2590 , 115 L.Ed.2d 706 (1991). Our review is limited by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). See 28 U.S.C. § 2254 .

We review Dawson’s claim of instructional error by evaluating ‘“whether the ailing instruction by itself so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violates due process.’ ” Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 72 , 112 S.Ct. 475 , 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991), quoting Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 147 , 94 S.Ct. 396 ,…