Opinion ID: 754313
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Issue (9)--Double Jeopardy

Text: 37 Mr. Jackson finally argues that the district court improperly convicted him of both felony murder and the predicate offense of armed robbery in violation of the double jeopardy clause. Though Mr. Jackson pled this as a new and separate claim in his opening brief to this court, our review of the record indicates Mr. Jackson originally raised this argument as part and parcel of issue (6) in the original federal petition. See I R. doc. 1 at 8; I R. doc. 65 at 25-26. As we noted before, the magistrate and district court correctly held that issue (6)--which included Mr. Jackson's double jeopardy argument--was procedurally barred. See I R. doc. 20 at 7-8. Apparently, however, Mr. Jackson raised and was granted review of his double jeopardy claim in an unrelated state habeas petition. See Jackson v. State, 122 N.M. 433, 925 P.2d 1195 (1996). Thus, Mr. Jackson's double jeopardy claim was considered on the merits by New Mexico's highest court, allowing us to review Mr. Jackson's double jeopardy claim on the merits as well. See Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797, 801, 111 S.Ct. 2590, 2593-94, 115 L.Ed.2d 706 (1991); Nieto v. Sullivan, 879 F.2d 743, 746 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 957, 110 S.Ct. 373, 107 L.Ed.2d 359 (1989). 38 Mr. Jackson argues State v. Contreras, 120 N.M. 486, 903 P.2d 228, 233 (1995), controls here, but Contreras was decided in 1995, well after Mr. Jackson's convictions became final. In reviewing Mr. Jackson's double jeopardy claim, the New Mexico Supreme Court held Contreras should be given prospective application only, foreclosing Mr. Jackson's double jeopardy argument. See Jackson, 925 P.2d at 1197. Whether we construe Mr. Jackson's argument as a direct challenge to the New Mexico Supreme Court's retroactivity analysis or as a federal constitutional claim, Mr. Jackson's claim fails. The Constitution does not impose any requirement that state judicial decisions be applied retroactively, see Andrews v. Shulsen, 802 F.2d 1256, 1270 (10th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 919, 108 S.Ct. 1091, 99 L.Ed.2d 253 (1988), and the issue whether a state court decision applies retroactively is a state law issue, see Tucker v. Makowski, 883 F.2d 877, 881-82 (10th Cir.1989), upon which we may not issue a writ of habeas corpus. See Andrews, 802 F.2d at 1271. 39 AFFIRMED. Mr. Jackson's request for a certificate of appealability is construed as a request for a certificate of probable cause and is GRANTED.