Zamora

MEMORANDUM **

Javier Zamora was convicted in California Superior Court along with three others of the attempted murder of Hugo Cruz, and related offenses, for which he received a sentence of 29 years. At the trial, Cruz refused to testify because of the possibility of his testimony being used against him in a related gun possession case. The Superior Court ruled that three statements that *584 Cruz previously had made to the police-at the scene of the crime, in the hospital two days later, and during questioning about his own case-were admissible as statements of an unavailable witness pursuant to Cal. Evid.Code § 1370.

On direct appeal, all counts were affirmed by the California Court of Appeal and a petition for review was denied by the California Supreme Court. Zamora petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, claiming, among other things, that his Sixth Amendment right to confront Cruz had been violated and that he had been denied the effective assistance of counsel because his attorney had failed to object to Cruz’s testimony on Confrontation Clause grounds. The magistrate judge assigned to Zamora’s case recommended that his petition be granted…