John H. Alcala v. DARRELL G. ADAMS, Warden

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent*
except as provided by 9th Circuit Rule 36-3.
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision**
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JOHN H. ALCALA,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
DARRELL G. ADAMS, Warden,
Respondent - Appellee.
No. 08-56060
D.C. No. 2:06-cv-04003-JSL-PLA
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
J. Spencer Letts, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted September 1, 2010**
Pasadena, California
Before: O’SCANNLAIN, FISHER and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
A California state court jury convicted John H. Alcala of three counts of
assault with a semi-automatic firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by a
FILED
SEP 03 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C OU R T OF APPE ALS

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felon. Alcala appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas
corpus.
We agree with the district court’s conclusion that the California Court of
Appeal did not apply harmless-error review in an objectively unreasonable manner
when it held that, even if Alcala’s Confrontation Clause rights were violated, the
error was harmless. See Mitchell v. Esparza, 540 U.S. 12, 18 (2003) (per curiam);
Slovik v. Yates, 556 F.3d 747, 755 (9th Cir. 2009). The admitted statements only
weakly implicated Alcala and were cumulative of other evidence properly
admitted, including the 911 phone call made by Laura Chavez, the testimony of
Barbara Aguilar, and the shell casing found on the ground by Officer Langton.
AFFIRMED.

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