The following excerpt is from Vasquez v. Cate, CASE NO. 11-CV-02078-H (WMc) (S.D. Cal. 2013):
Federal habeas relief is available for improperly admitted evidence only if that error rendered the trial so fundamentally unfair as to violate due process. Estelle, 502 U.S. at 68, 70; see also Windham v. Merkle, 163 F.3d 1092, 1103 (9th Cir. 1998). Constitutional due process is violated if there are no permissible inferences that may be drawn from the challenged evidence. Jammal, 926 F.2d at 919-20. "Evidence introduced by the prosecution will often raise more than one inference, some
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permissible, some not." Id. at 920. "A habeas petitioner bears a heavy burden in showing a due process violation based on an evidentiary decision." Boyde v. Brown, 404 F.3d 1159, 1172 (9th Cir. 2005).
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