Diaz

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 LONNIE JANES KERLEY, No. 2:19-cv-02458 JAM GGH P Petitioner, v. CORRECTED FINDINGS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

RALPH DIAZ, Warden, Respondent. 16 17 Introduction and Summary Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. ECF No. 1. The matter was referred to the United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 626(b)(1) and Local Rule 302. In a case which initially, it appears, could have come directly out of the script for a Forensic Files episode given the years it took to identify the victim, petitioner, a long time domestic abuser, was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life imprisonment. Unlike Forensic Files, however, there were no eyewitnesses, very little, if any, forensic evidence linking Kerley to the murder; even the autopsy findings regarding cause of death of the victim were hotly disputed given the…