United States Ninth Circuit

In a murder case, the denial of Petitioner's habeas petition is affirmed where testimony by a deaf witness using sign language did not violate the Confrontation Clause because the limitations on the effectiveness of cross-examination resulted from the witness's own physical impairments.

Appellate Information

• Argued 05/04/2009
• Decided 07/20/2009
• Published 07/20/2009

Judges

• BETTY B. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:, Before: B. FLETCHER, RAYMOND C. FISHER and RONALD M. GOULD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michael Tanaka, Deputy Federal Public Defender (argued) and Sean K. Kennedy, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA, for the petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• David F. Glassman, Deputy Attorney General (argued), Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Dane R. Gillette, Pamela Hamanaka, and Steven D. Matthews, Office of the California Attorney General, Los Angeles, CA, for the respondent-appellee.