Lema
Lema v. The People
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CHRISTOPHER LEMA, Case No. 20-cv-00631-VC (PR)
Petitioner, ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR
WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS;
v. DENYING CERTIFICATE OF
APPEALABILITY
THE PEOPLE,
Respondent.
The petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied. Even if Lema’s claim were not procedurally defaulted, and even if the trial court’s erroneous response to the jury’s question gave rise to a federal due process claim, the error almost certainly did not have a substantial and injurious effect on the verdict, because there was virtually no evidence to support Lema’s assertion that he merely committed manslaughter as opposed to murder. See Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993). This is so for the reasons explained by the California Court of Appeal in its harmless error analysis. A certificate of appealability will not issue. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). This is not a case in which “reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000). The Clerk shall enter
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