Cox

MEMORANDUM ***

On November 7, 2000, a jury found Ernest Cox guilty of the attempted murder of his wife, Ruth Cox, and in a separate count, guilty of her murder. Following unsuccessful state court appeals, Cox petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, which the district court denied on August 11, 2005. The district court granted a certificate of appealability for two of Cox’s claims, which are now before us.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 (a). We review de novo the district court’s decision. Clark v. Murphy, 331 F.3d 1062, 1067 (9th Cir.2003). Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), a federal court cannot grant Cox’s habeas petition unless the state appellate court’s adjudication of the claims raised in the petition was “con *678 trary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1). Under the applicable Supreme Court precedent, even when there is an error of constitutional proportion, the state court is not required to reverse if it determines the error was “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Chapman v. State of…