Case Name: Stephen BENNETT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ron BARNES, Warden, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2015-03-18
Citations: 598 F. App'x 526
Docket Number: No. 13-56117
Parties: Stephen BENNETT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ron BARNES, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: Before: WARDLAW, W. FLETCHER, and OWENS, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 598
Pages: 526–527

Head Matter:
Stephen BENNETT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ron BARNES, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 13-56117.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted Jan. 9, 2015.
Filed March 18, 2015.
Elizabeth Richardson-Royer, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender’s Office, Los Angeles, CA, for Petitioner-Appellant.
Jennifer B. Truong, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of the California Attorney General, San Diego, CA, for Re-spondenfi-Appellee.
Before: WARDLAW, W. FLETCHER, and OWENS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
MEMORANDUM
Stephen Bennett appeals the district court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He was convicted in state court of felony murder with special circumstances, CaLPenal Code § 190.2(d), and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. On the issue for which the district court granted a certificate of appealability, Bennett argues that the evidence of the element of "reckless indifference to human life" under § 190.2(d) was insufficient to support a conviction under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 324, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), and that the California Court of Appeal unreasonably applied Jackson in holding otherwise. We review the district court's decision de novo, and we affirm.
According to the California Supreme Court, the interpretation of § 190.2(d)'s "reckless indifference to human life" element derives from Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 107 S.Ct. 1676, 95 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987). People v. Estrada, 11 Cal.4th 568, 46 Cal.Rptr.2d 586, 904 P.2d 1197, 1201 (1995). "Tison . instructs that the culpable mental state of 'reckless indifference to life' is one in which the defendant 'knowingly engag[es] in criminal activities known to carry a grave risk of death.' " Id. at 1202 (latter alteration in original) (quoting Tison, 481 U.S. at 157, 107 S.Ct. 1676).
The California Court of Appeal did not unreasonably determine that a rational jury could have concluded that Bennett was subjectively aware of a grave risk of death. There is evidence showing, or at least supporting an inference, that Bennett knew that his accomplices planned to commit an armed robbery and that he failed to render aid to the injured victim. The state court did not unreasonably determine that the jury could have interpreted the secretly recorded conversation between Bennett and one of the shooters to mean that Bennett was aware that the shooters would be armed. And the jury could have inferred that Bennett heard, along with several witnesses, the fatal shots, knew that the victim was injured, and drove the shooters home rather than rendering aid to the victim.
We construe Bennett's briefing of an uncertified issue as a motion to expand the certificate of appealability, Ninth Cir. R. 22-l(e), and deny it.
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9 th Cir. R. 36-3.