Gonzalez v. Wong, No. 08-99025 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner was convicted in a California state court of first degree murder, with a finding of the special circumstance of killing a law enforcement officer engaged in the lawful pursuit of his duties, and was sentenced to death. Petitioner appealed from the district court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus. Petitioner's appeal required the court to consider and apply the United States Supreme Court decision in Cullen v. Pinholster. Under the circumstances, the court concluded that Pinholster was applicable and prevented the court from considering the new evidence in reviewing petitioner's Brady claim under 28 U.S.C. 2254(d). In light of Pinholster's emphasis on the primary responsibility of the state court, the court concluded that the new evidence needed to be presented to the state court before it could be considered by the court on habeas review of the state court's decision. The court concluded that petitioner had a colorable or potentially meritorious Brady claim such that a reasonable state court could find a Brady violation. The court affirmed all of the district court's rulings on all of the non-Brady claims.
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.