Briones

MEMORANDUM **

In these consolidated appeals, Riley Briones, Sr. (“Riley, Sr.”) and his son Riley Briones, Jr. (“Riley, Jr.”) appeal pro se from the district court’s judgments denying their 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motions, challenging their convictions and sentences for various crimes related to their activities as gang members. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . We review de novo, see United States v. Rodrigues, 347 F.3d 818, 823 (9th Cir.2003), and we affirm.

The only issue certified for Riley, Jr.’s appeal is whether the admission of an informant’s out-of-court statements violated his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights. By failing to raise it in his opening brief, where he argues only an uncertified ineffective of assistance of counsel claim, Riley, Jr. has waived the issue. See United States v. King, 257 F.3d 1013 ,1029 n. 5 (9th Cir.2001).

Riley, Sr. contends his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate and argue effectively an alleged Confrontation Clause violation. To demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel, Riley, Sr. must establish both that his counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance…