Opinion ID: 780576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Officer Gary Foppiano of the Oakland Police Department was assigned to a street prostitution undercover operation on September 24, 1996. He sat in an unmarked car monitoring Officer Beverly Flemmings, a female police officer dressed as a prostitute, and positioned himself to signal a nearby arrest every time a man solicited Flemmings. 3 At approximately 10:00 p.m., a man speaking in broken Spanish approached Foppiano. Then another man pushed the first aside, thrust a gun in Foppiano's window and told him that this was a jacking. Flemmings had by this time noticed the men talking to Foppiano. 4 The man who declared that a jacking was taking place told Foppiano that if he did not hand over his wallet, he would be shot. Foppiano grabbed his wallet with his left hand and then shot the man with a gun in his right hand two or three times. 5 The man fell to the ground and then Foppiano heard gunshots several seconds later. He ducked down in his car as glass broke around him and could not ascertain the identity of the shooter. 6 Foppiano then exited the car, and after noticing the man who spoke in broken Spanish positioned behind the car, fired one shot in his direction. The man fled through the parking lot. Flemmings stated that she saw the other man (a darker man) approach Foppiano's car again and it appeared to her that he was shooting into the car. She heard gunshots, witnessed the darker man flee into a building and then saw him running again. She shot twice at the man. Foppiano heard these two shots and believing the man had fired either at him or at another officer, fired two shots in the direction of the fleeing man. The man fell to the ground and police later identified him as Harrison. 7 Foppiano kicked the gun out of Harrison's hand as he lay on the ground and handcuffed him. He later identified Harrison in court as the man who tried to rob him and the man he shot. PROCEEDINGS BELOW 8 Harrison was charged in Alameda County Superior Court with attempted armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a firearm, and discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle. Prior to trial, Harrison moved under the Federal and California Due Process Clauses for discovery of Oakland Police Department records for impeachment information regarding the arresting officer, including records of complaints involving events occurring more than five years before the incident at issue (beyond the five-year cut-off provided by California Evidence Code sections 1043 and 1045). Harrison sought access to all the documents in Officer Foppiano's personnel file. The district court denied the motion for discovery of records beyond the five-year cut-off. 9 The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the following counts: attempted robbery, firearm possession, and assault. On November 12, 1997, the court sentenced Harrison to a term of imprisonment of seventeen years to life. 10 Harrison appealed, raising, among other grounds, a claim of violation of due process caused by the five-year cut-off. The California Court of Appeals affirmed Harrison's conviction in all respects. On February 17, 1999, Harrison filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court, which denied the petition. Harrison then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the District Court of the Northern District of California on September 16, 1999. His petition alleged two claims: (1) California's five-year discovery cut-off of impeachment material violated Harrison's due process rights; and (2) the government improperly used peremptory challenges. The district court denied both of Harrison's claims. He appeals only the first.