United States Ninth Circuit

Denial of a petition for habeas corpus is affirmed, where: 1) the petitioner was not improperly denied pretrial access to a witness, as the record supported the finding that an interview with defense counsel would have run counter to the witness's best interests, and the decisions that the petitioner faulted were made by Child Protective Services, not the prosecution; 2) a time limit imposed on defense counsel's cross-examination was reasonable and did not run afoul of any of the Supreme Court's Confrontation Clause precedents; and 3) the trial judge acted within his discretion in precluding cross-examination on a topic he believed would confuse the issues, consume undue time, and provide only marginal impeachment benefit.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/24/2012
• Published 05/24/2012

Judges

• Graber

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jolie Lipsig, Glenn R. Pruden