Wayne Dinsmore Gray v. Kelly Santoro

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

WAYNE DINSMORE GRAY, Case No. 2:20-cv-01844-SB-SP

Petitioner,

ORDER ACCEPTING FINDINGS,

v.

CONCLUSIONS, AND

KELLY SANTORO, RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE

U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Respondent.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, the Court has reviewed the petition (Dkt. No. 1), the records on file, the Report and Recommendation (R&R) of the United States Magistrate Judge (Dkt. No. 20), and the Objections thereto (Dkt. No. 23). After conducting a de novo review of the challenged portions of the R&R, the Court ACCEPTS AND ADOPTS the findings and conclusions of the Magistrate Judge.

Objections

Petitioner’s objections to the R&R are without merit for the reasons explained in the R&R, as briefly discussed below. First, Petitioner contends that he is entitled to relief because the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the accomplice corroboration rule in connection with statements made by Javier Pellecer. Even assuming the trial court violated this state rule, Petitioner is not entitled to habeas relief. See Laboa v. Calderon, 224 F.3d 972, 979 (9th Cir. 2000) (noting that “the…