Davis

MEMORANDUM ***

Petitioner-Appellant Bruce Davis appeals the denial of his habeas petition. Davis first challenges the state court’s denial of his motion to sever the two robbery counts for trial. Improper joinder of separate counts at trial “rise[s] to the level of a constitutional violation only if it results in prejudice so great as to deny a defendant his [constitutional] right to a fair trial.” United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438 , 446 n. 8, 106 S.Ct. 725 , 88 L.Ed.2d 814 (1986). The state appellate court’s decision to affirm the trial court’s denial of Davis’s motion to sever was not objectively unreasonable. The evidence as to each count would have been cross-admissible in separate trials, and both cases involved evidentiary cases of equal strength. In addition, the failure to sever despite the possibility that Davis may not have testified on both counts at separate trials was not an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the United States Supreme Court.

Davis next argues that he was denied his constitutional right to cross-examine a witness when the trial court denied his request to submit a handwriting sample during his own…