Taplin

MEMORANDUM **

California state prisoner Lionel Taplin appeals from the district court’s judgment denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and we affirm.

Taplin contends that statements made by the prosecutor in closing argument violated his right to due process. First, Taplin argues that the prosecutor’s arguments regarding the taped statement of Dexter Goodman constituted misconduct. Even assuming that the prosecutor’s statements were improper, Taplin has failed to establish that these statements “so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.” Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 181 , 106 S.Ct. 2464 , 91 L.Ed.2d 144 (1986) (quoting Donnelly v. DeChristo-foro, 416 U.S. 637, 643 , 94 S.Ct. 1868 , 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974)). Given the weight of the evidence indicating that the drugs seized in Taplin’s bedroom closet belonged to him, Goodman’s taped statement that he was the owner of the drugs was insufficient to create reasonable doubt on this point. Because Taplin cannot establish *938 that the prosecutor’s statements “had substantial and injurious effect or influence in…