Ramsey v. Taylor, 030719 FED9, 18-35156

Party NameSTEPHEN GLENN RAMSEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. JERI TAYLOR, Superintendent, Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Respondent-Appellee.
Judge PanelBefore: GRABER and BERZON, Circuit Judges, and TUNHEIM, Chief District Judge.
Case DateMarch 07, 2019
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals, U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

STEPHEN GLENN RAMSEY, Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

JERI TAYLOR, Superintendent, Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 18-35156

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

March 7, 2019

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Submitted March 5, 2019 [**] Portland, Oregon

Appeal from the United States District Court No. 2:16-cv-00686-SI for the District of Oregon Michael H. Simon, District Judge, Presiding

Before: GRABER and BERZON, Circuit Judges, and TUNHEIM, Chief District Judge. [***]

MEMORANDUM [*]

Petitioner Stephen Ramsey appeals the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. Reviewing de novo, we affirm. See Murray v. Schriro, 745 F.3d 984, 996 (9th Cir. 2014) (reviewing de novo a district court's denial of a petition for writ of habeas corpus).

At an Oregon state post-conviction relief (''PCR'') proceeding, Ramsey argued that his trial counsel's failure to introduce a prior inconsistent statement of victim KS was an error that prejudiced his trial. The PCR court agreed that trial counsel's failure was an error, but held that the error prejudiced Ramsey only as to Count V, which was the count directly related to KS. Accordingly, the PCR court vacated Ramsey's conviction on that count only. Ramsey now contends that his trial counsel's error also prejudiced him as to Counts IBIV, and that the PCR court's finding to the contrary was an unreasonable application of the prejudice prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).

We may grant a state prisoner's petition for habeas corpus only if the state court's decision was ''contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court.'' 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Thus, we must decide whether the PCR court's decision was ''objectively unreasonable.'' Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 409 (2000).

To show prejudice, Ramsey must establish that there is a ''reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.'' Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694. There is not a reasonable probability that introducing KS's statement would have changed the outcome on Counts IBIV. The evidence on those counts consisted mainly of testimony from victims KW and ES, which focused on their own individual periods of abuse. There is no evidence that the three victims...

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