Christopher Grimes v. Bryan D. Phillips

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CHRISTOPHER GRIMES, No. 21-56353

Petitioner - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:21-cv-05735- v. MWF-PD

BRYAN D. PHILLIPS, Warden High Desert State Prison,

OPINION

Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Michael W. Fitzgerald, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted April 4, 2024 Pasadena, California

Filed June 26, 2024

Before: Ryan D. Nelson, Lawrence VanDyke, and Gabriel P. Sanchez, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Sanchez SUMMARY*

Habeas Corpus

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of Christopher Grimes’ 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging his California conviction for second- degree murder in a case in which the trial court denied Grimes’ motion to suppress statements from his conversation with an undercover jailhouse informant, which took place after Grimes invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 346 (1966). The California Court of Appeal determined that the statements were…