Kelvin Forrest, Petitioner-appellant, v. Margaret Pugh, Commissioner, Dept. of Corrections,respondent-appellee, 94 F.3d 651 (9th Cir. 1996)

Annotate this Case

US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 94 F.3d 651 (9th Cir. 1996) Submitted Aug. 8, 1996. *Decided Aug. 12, 1996

Before: GOODWIN, BRUNETTI and KOZINSKI, Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM^**

Petitioner appeals the district court's dismissal, for failure to exhaust state remedies, of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. In his habeas petition, Petitioner argues that the trial court's refusal to allow the testimony of a certain witness violated the Compulsory Process Clause of the Sixth Amendment. In his state appeals, however, Petitioner challenged the exclusion of the witness's testimony solely on state-law grounds. Because Petitioner failed to alert the state court to the federal nature of his claim, the district court properly dismissed his petition for failure to exhaust state remedies. Duncan v. Henry, 115 S. Ct. 887, 888 (1995); Johnson v. Zenon, No. 94-36052, slip op. 8353, 8360-61 (9th Cir. July 11, 1996).

AFFIRMED.

The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. Fed. R. App. P. 34(a); Ninth Circuit Rule 34-4

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.