Court Opinion

ID: 9931174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-08 17:00:55.36963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:17:01.300947
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        FEB 8 2024
                                                                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MARTICO A. MULDROW,                             No.   22-15222

                Petitioner-Appellant,           D.C. No. 2:16-cv-04606-DLR

 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR THE STATE
OF ARIZONA; RYAN THORNELL,

                Respondents-Appellees.

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                            for the District of Arizona
                   Douglas L. Rayes, District Judge, Presiding

                           Submitted February 6, 2024**
                               Phoenix, Arizona

Before: MURGUIA, Chief Judge, and HAWKINS and JOHNSTONE, Circuit
Judges.

      Petitioner Martico Muldrow (“Muldrow”) appeals the dismissal of his habeas

petition as a barred second or successive habeas petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (b).

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth 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).
We review Muldrow’s appeal de novo, United States v. Villa-Gonzalez, 208 F.3d

1160, 1165 (9th Cir. 2000), and we affirm.

      Muldrow was convicted of first-degree felony murder in connection with the

1988 robbery of an IGA grocery store and the sexual assault and murder of the

grocery store manager. His first habeas petition was denied in 2009. To bring a

second habeas petition, Muldrow must demonstrate that “the factual predicate for

the claim could not have been discovered previously through the exercise of due

diligence” and that “the facts underlying the claim, if proven and viewed in light of

the evidence as a whole, would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing

evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found

the applicant guilty of the underlying offense.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2)(B)(i) &

(ii). Muldrow’s second habeas petition is based on newly discovered Brady material

that could have been used to impeach Detective Saldate, a detective who oversaw

the initial investigation of the crime, which did not at the time result in an arrest.1

      However, the impeachment of Saldate would not help Muldrow meet his

burden of establishing that no reasonable juror would have found him guilty of the

crime in light of the other evidence of Muldrow’s guilt. In this case, Saldate played

a relatively minor role in the trial, laying the foundational groundwork of what was

1
  As outlined in Milke v Ryan, 711 F.3d 998, 1020 (9th Cir. 2013), Saldate had a
history of misconduct in some other cases, including lying under oath, failing to give
Miranda warnings, and other interrogation issues.

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uncovered in the initial investigation, much of which was also repeated by other

officers and forensic examiners who worked on the case in the late 1980s. The trial

instead focused primarily on the cold case investigation that occurred over ten years

later and eventually led to Muldrow’s arrest, including new interviews of Muldrow

and co-workers by new detectives, new DNA testing, and the implausibility of

Muldrow’s explanation for the presence of his DNA in the victim. As the district

court aptly summarized:

      The evidence of Petitioner’s guilt is not built on Saldate’s testimony
      and there is no exonerating evidence, other than impeachment,
      presented in the petition. Although Petitioner could have been able to
      impeach Saldate more thoroughly at trial with this new evidence, his
      role in the investigation was minor and his testimony was not critical to
      the State’s case. The evidence offered by Petitioner is insignificant in
      the context of the evidence of guilt presented at trial. Petitioner has not
      shown by clear and convincing evidence that but for the alleged Brady
      violation no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty of the
      underlying offense or of intending to promote or facilitate either the
      robbery of the grocery store or the kidnapping and sexual assault of Ms.
      Myers.

      Muldrow’s second habeas petition was properly dismissed as barred by 28

U.S.C. § 2244(b).

      AFFIRMED.

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