Premo v. Moore, No. 09-658

Felony Murder Habeas Petition

In Premo v. Moore, No. 09-658, a felony murder prosecution, the court reversed the Ninth Circuit's reversal of the district court's denial of petitioner's habeas petition where 1) the state court would not have been unreasonable to accept as a justification for counsel's action that suppression of petitioner's confession would have been futile in light of petitioner's other admissible confession to two witnesses; and 2) the state court also reasonably could have concluded that petitioner was not prejudiced by counsel's actions.

As the court wrote:  "This case calls for determinations parallel in some respects to those discussed in today's opinion in Harrington v. Richter, ante, p. ___. Here, as in Richter, the Court reviews a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granting federal habeas corpus relief in a challenge to a state criminal conviction. Here, too, the case turns on the proper implementation of one of the stated premises for issuance of federal habeas corpus contained in 28 U. S. C. §2254(d), the instruction that federal habeas corpus relief may not be granted with respect to any claim a state court has adjudicated on the merits unless, among other exceptions, the state court's decision denying relief involves "an unreasonable application" of "clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.""

Related Resources

• Read the Supreme Court's Decision in Premo v. Moore, No. 09-658