Stephens
Stephens v. Tilton
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Walter Stephens was convicted by a California jury of second-degree murder for *756 killing his neighbor, Bob Hall. Stephens asserted during the trial that he killed Hall in self-defense, claiming in part that he initially shot Hall because he believed Hall had a gun and was planning to shoot Stephens. The district court had jurisdiction over this petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We have jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . We review the district court’s denial of the writ de novo, see Menendez v. Terhune, 422 F.3d 1012, 1025 (9th Cir.2005), and we now affirm.
Stephens first contends that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to introduce evidence corroborating Stephens’s testimony that he believed at the time he shot Hall that Hall owned firearms. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). At trial, Stephens testified that neighbors told him Hall owned firearms and had once shot a snake. Trial counsel failed to call the neighbors or Stephens’s brother to confirm these statements.