Cervantes v. Roe
Cervantes v. Roe
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
California state prisoner Alfredo Cervantes appeals the district court’s order dismissing with prejudice his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253. We affirm.
Cervantes contends that the state trial courts violated his rights under the Constitution by failing to grant his motions to disclose the identity of a confidential informant, and by failing to require the presence of the informant at the attendant in camera hearings. However, the state courts, based on the testimony of officers involved in the drug investigation, determined that the informant could not provide information favorable to Cervantes and was not a percipient witness to the offense, and Cervantes does not show how the state courts’ determination would have changed had the informant given testimony in person. On the record before us, therefore, we cannot say that the state courts’ determination was contrary to or an unreasonable application of Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 60-61, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957) (holding that the Government’s privilege to withhold the identity of an informant gives way only if disclosure “is relevant and helpful to the defense of an accused, or is essential to a fair determination of a cause ____”), or other Supreme Court precedent.
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as may be provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
. Cervantes also argues that the district court erred by dismissing his claim that the state trial court violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), when it failed to grant his motion for disclosure of the informant’s identity. We disagree. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 1196-97, 83 S.Ct. 1194 (holding that “suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment ____”) (emphasis added).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.