United States Ninth Circuit

The district court's denial of a habeas corpus petition challenging petitioner's conviction on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct is reversed and remanded, where: 1) after the state court found misconduct when the prosecutor knowingly elicited and then failed to correct false testimony, it applied a harmlessness standard that is contrary to that required by Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959); 2) the state court’s application of a stricter standard than is permissible in the case of Napue error was contrary to clearly established Supreme Court law; and 3) it is reasonably likely that the false testimony and the prosecutor's arguments based on that testimony had a material effect on the outcome of the jury's deliberations, and thus the error was material.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/05/2013
• Published 09/05/2013

Judges

• REINHARDT

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel