Morales

MEMORANDUM *

A California jury convicted Petitioner David H. Morales of possessing phencyclidine (PCP). The California Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on direct appeal. People v. Morales, 25 Cal.4th 34 , 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 582 , 18 P.3d 11 , cert. denied, 534 U.S. 857 , 122 S.Ct. 133 , 151 L.Ed.2d 86 (2001). Petitioner then filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , and the district court granted the petition. On de novo review, Leavitt v. Arave, 383 F.3d 809, 815 (9th Cir.2004) (per curiam), cert. denied, 545 U.S. 1105 , 125 S.Ct. 2540 , 162 L.Ed.2d 277 (2005), we reverse.

1. At the state-court trial, the prosecutor argued to the jury (among other things) that Petitioner should be convicted of possessing PCP because, at the time of his arrest, he was under the influence of PCP. That argument misstated the *854 law and, thus, could be considered prosecutorial misconduct. Petitioner’s claim of prosecutorial misconduct was procedurally defaulted under California law, for failure to object contemporaneously. Morales, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 582 , 18 P.3d at 17 . Accordingly, we may not review the claim. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 729 , 111 S.Ct. 2546…