Isaiah Rashad Taylor v. JEFFREY BEARD, Secretary

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ISAIAH RASHAD TAYLOR,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
JEFFREY BEARD, Secretary,
Respondent - Appellee.
No. 14-55943
D.C. No. 3:11-cv-01165-BTM-
BLM
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Barry T. Moskowitz, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted September 1, 2015
Pasadena, California
Before: KOZINSKI, O’SCANNLAIN, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.
California state prisoner Isaiah Taylor appeals the denial of his 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254 habeas petition. We review de novo the district court’s decision to deny a
petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and we affirm. Yee v. Duncan, 463 F.3d 893,
897 (9th Cir. 2006).
FILED
SEP 24 2015
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

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Taylor was convicted of kidnapping for robbery and kidnapping during a
carjacking. On appeal, Taylor claims that: (1) the state court improperly found that
the victim’s suggestive identification admitted at trial was reliable; (2) his counsel
rendered ineffective assistance by failing to interview three alibi witnesses; and (3)
together these errors constituted cumulative error that deprived him of a fair trial.
We reject Taylor’s first claim. The state court applied the appropriate
clearly established federal law in determining that the identification was reliable,
see Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 106, 114 (1977); Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S.
188, 199–200 (1972), and the court’s application of these precedents was not
unreasonable, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). Even if we were to conclude that the
state court’s reliability determination was an unreasonable application of federal
law, the jury was made aware at trial of the victim’s prior failures to identify
Taylor. In addition, substantial circumstantial evidence, including DNA evidence,
supported Taylor’s conviction. Thus, any error was harmless. See Brecht v.
Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993); see also Williams v. Stewart, 441 F.3d
1030, 1039 (9th Cir. 2006) (per curiam) (stating that harmless error analysis
applies to due process violations arising from suggestive identifications).
Regarding Taylor’s ineffective assistance claim, the state court again applied
the appropriate clearly established federal law. See Strickland v. Washington, 466
2

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U.S. 668, 687 (1984). The state court concluded that trial counsel’s decision not to
pursue the three alibi witnesses and to focus instead on other aspects of the state’s
case was a reasonable tactical decision, and did not constitute deficient
performance. Because this was not an unreasonable application of the Strickland
standard, we reject Taylor’s second claim. See Harrington v. Richter, 131 S. Ct.
770, 790 (2011).
Finally, we reject Taylor’s claim that cumulative error affected the fairness
of his trial. Multiple trial errors may violate due process where the cumulative
effect of the errors renders the resulting criminal trial fundamentally unfair. See
Parle v. Runnels, 505 F.3d 922, 927 (9th Cir. 2007) (citing Chambers v.
Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 298, 302–03 (1973)). Taylor has failed to demonstrate
any error here; thus, there can be no cumulative error.
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
3

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