Warren Miller v. Brian Belleque, No. 09-35971 (9th Cir. 2010)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT DEC 09 2010 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS WARREN LEROY MILLER, Petitioner - Appellant, No. 09-35971 D.C. No. 3:07-cv-00169-MA v. MEMORANDUM * BRIAN BELLEQUE, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Malcolm F. Marsh, District Judge, Presiding Submitted December 7, 2010 ** Seattle, Washington Before: O SCANNLAIN, and TALLMAN, Circuit Judges, and EZRA, District Judge.*** * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). *** The Honorable David A. Ezra, United States District Judge for the District of Hawaii, sitting by designation. Miller claims that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated when his trial counsel, Janet Boytano, failed to investigate Debbie Barreras and failed to locate other girls who had lived in Barreras s foster home. To prevail on a Sixth Amendment claim, Miller must demonstrate that his counsel s performance was deficient and that he was prejudiced by the deficiency. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 690 92 (1984). The state post-conviction review ( PCR ) court found that Miller s evidence demonstrated, at most, that Boytano knew that one other girl who had previously lived with Barreras had made false accusations of sexual abuse. The PCR court s factual findings are entitled to deference, and we conclude that they are not unreasonable in light of the evidence. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). Given its findings, the PCR court s conclusion that Boytano s failure to investigate was not deficient was a reasonable application of Strickland. See id. § 2254(d). Because Miller has failed to demonstrate that Boytano s performance was professionally unreasonable, we need not decide whether Miller was prejudiced by Boytano s failure to investigate. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691. AFFIRMED. 2
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.
