United States Ninth Circuit

In a first degree murder case, denial of a petition for habeas relief is reversed where: 1) a Nevada Supreme Court order denying a petition for extraordinary writ was made on the merits and such denial satisfied the exhaustion requirement; 2) petitioner's federal constitutional right to due process was violated because the instructions given at his trial permitted the jury to convict him of first-degree murder without a finding of the essential element of deliberation; and 3) the error was not harmless.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/10/2008
• Decided 12/09/2008
• Published 12/09/2008

Judges

• Before:  J. CLIFFORD WALLACE and SUSAN P. GRABER, Circuit Judges, and ROBERT J. TIMLIN, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Linda Marie Bell, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV, for the petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert E. Wieland, Senior Deputy Attorney General, Criminal Justice Division, Reno, NV, for the respondent-appellee.