Shaw

MEMORANDUM **

Appellant Ardell Joshua Shaw (Shaw) was convicted in two separate state trials for the possession of a controlled substance with the intent to manufacture or deliver. In 1997, Michael Hoover (Hoover), a state forensic scientist, tested the controlled substances and, in both trials, testified that the substances contained cocaine.

After Shaw was convicted, Hoover admitted stealing and using heroin from the state crime lab, and pled guilty to tampering with physical evidence. Shaw challenges the district court’s denial of his habeas petition based on the prosecution’s failure to disclose Hoover’s criminal activity as impeachment evidence pursuant to Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 , 83 S.Ct. 1194 , 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

Assuming, without deciding, that the Washington state court’s analysis was deficient under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, we conduct a de novo review. See Barker v. Fleming, 423 F.3d 1085, 1095 (9th Cir.2005). In view of the extensive testimony in Shaw’s trials that the substances at issue were cocaine, 1 we conclude that the undisclosed evidence was not material, as there was *749 not “a reasonable probability that, had…