Castillo

MEMORANDUM **

Nevada state prisoner Alejandro Jose Castillo appeals from the District Court’s Order denying his pro se Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Castillo’s Amended Petition challenges on multiple grounds his state conviction by guilty plea for sexual assault and battery with intent to commit sexual assault.

The District Court granted a certificate of appealability (“COA”) on one issue and denied it with respect to all others. 1 The certified issue on appeal is “[wjhether this [District] court’s decision denying Castillo’s federal habeas petition should be reversed because the state court violated his federal Due Process rights by allowing him to be certified for adult criminal proceedings under the pre-1991 version of NRS 62.080.” (E.O.R. at 681) (capitalization altered).

Castillo contends that the certified issue encompasses two sub-issues, namely (1) whether the state court violated Castillo’s Due Process rights by failing to retroactively apply the amended version of Nevada Revised Statute (“NRS”) 62.080 (as amended in 1991) to his case; and (2) whether the state court violated Castillo’s Due Process rights by interpreting the…