Joseph Hart v. Ron Broomfield

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JOSEPH WILLIAM HART, No. 20-99011

Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:05-cv- 03633-DSF v.

RONALD BROOMFIELD, Acting OPINION Warden, California State Prison at San Quentin,

Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Dale S. Fischer, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted January 22, 2024 Pasadena, California

Filed March 28, 2024

Before: Michelle T. Friedland, Lucy H. Koh, and Holly A. Thomas, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge H.A. Thomas SUMMARY *

Habeas Corpus / Death Penalty

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of Joseph William Hart’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition in a case in which Hart was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him of the murder of Diana H. (known as Diane) and of the rape, sodomy, and forced oral copulation of Amy R. Because the Supreme Court of California (CSC) did not offer reasoning when denying Hart’s state habeas petition on the merits, Hart is required under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act to show…