Grayson

MEMORANDUM *

On September 3, 1999, Alfred Lee Gray-son (“Grayson”) was convicted of first degree murder for fatally and repeatedly stabbing his wife, Carolyn Nunnery (“Nunnery”), and assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing his stepson, who had tried to intervene in the attack. Grayson was acquitted of a false imprisonment charge for an incident involving Nunnery several days before the murder. The California Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction in a reasoned decision; the California Supreme Court denied his petition for review. Grayson, proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Eastern District of California, raising six grounds in support of relief. The district court, adopting the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation (R & R) in full, denied Grayson’s petition. Grayson timely appealed, and the district court granted a certificate of appealability (“COA”) only with respect to Grayson’s Confrontation Clause claim, which is based on the admission of statements Nunnery made to police several days before her murder.

In rejecting Grayson’s Confrontation Clause claim, the district court applied our then-existing circuit law, Bockting v. Bayer,…