Harris

MEMORANDUM *

Earnest S. Harris appeals from the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction and sentence for rape, assault likely to produce great bodily injury upon a police officer, and battery on a peace officer. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 and review the district court’s denial of the petition de novo. See DeWeaver v. Runnels, 556 F.3d 995, 997 (9th Cir. 2009). We affirm.

Harris argues that the state courts’ denial of his petition should be reviewed de novo because they denied his claims on procedural grounds instead of on the merits. See Lewis v. Mayle, 391 F.3d 989, 996 (9th Cir.2004). Regardless of whether we use de novo review or the deferential standards of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, we affirm the denial of his petition. As the transcript of Harris’s guilty plea demonstrates, the plea was voluntary and intelligent. Harris was free to deny the allegation concerning the Alameda County prior. The allegation, in and of itself, did not render the plea involuntary or unknowing. A defendant may not withdraw his plea “merely because he discovers long after the plea has been…