Martinez v. Ryan, No. 08-99009 (6-18-19)(M. Smith w/McKeown & Fletcher)(Note: This is an AZ CHU case).  The 9^th affirms the denial of a capital habeas petition.  The petitioner, on probation at the time, was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in 1995. The 9^th concluded that the petitioner’s judicial bias claim was procedurally precluded. The state had a procedure for judicial bias review, and the procedure was sufficiently adequate. The claim moreover was speculative, and as such there was no IAC. The 9^th additionally denied the claims for inadequacy of the first-degree murder instruction, Brady, and IAC on failure to retain an expert to contest the state pathologist. The 9^th did find error in the state supreme court employing a nexus test for mitigation, but there was no prejudice.

A tough appeal for Tim Gabrielson of the Az CHU (Tucson).

The decision is here:

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/06/18/08-99009.pdf