Alisha Dawn Myers v. Paula Myers, Superintendent

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Oregon denied Alisha Dawn Myers’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The court held that three claims were unexhausted and procedurally defaulted, and that the state court’s rejection of her claim that judicial comments coerced her jury-trial waiver was entitled to deference under § 2254(d).

Holdings

1. Claims not fairly presented to the state's highest court are unexhausted and, when no state remedies remain, procedurally barred from federal habeas review unless the petitioner establishes cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Petitioner did not contest the default or establish an exception.
2. The Oregon Court of Appeals reasonably determined that Petitioner's jury-trial waiver was voluntary and deliberate and was not coerced by the non-presiding judge's comments about the likelihood of a death sentence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Grounds One, Three, and Four were unexhausted and procedurally defaulted because Petitioner failed to fairly present them to the Oregon Supreme Court.
2. Whether the Oregon Court of Appeals unreasonably applied clearly established federal law or unreasonably determined the facts in rejecting Petitioner's claim that a judge coerced her into waiving her constitutional right to a jury trial.
3. Whether Petitioner was entitled to federal habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

Disposition

writ_denied