Whether the Ninth Circuit's denial of a COA on Salguero's prosecutorial-misconduct claim is contrary to this Court's jurisprudence

QUESTION PRESENTED This Court has repeatedly held that to receive a certificate of appealability (‘COA’), a habeas petitioner need only show that “jurists of reason could disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Buck v. Davis, 137 S. Ct. 759, 773 (2017). At Petitioner’s trial, Cristina Zavala, a babysitter for his five-year old daughter, testified that Petitioner admitted to her that he sexually assaulted his daughter but that she did not tell the police because a school teacher she looked to for advice told her not to, that the police don’t do anything about such claims. Zavala provided the only evidence that Petitioner had allegedly admitted to abusing his daughter. Petitioner’s attorney argued in closing that “[w]hat this trial is about is Cristina Zavala’s credibility.” In her rebuttal closing argument, the prosecutor improperly vouched for this pivotal government witness, stating, “I believe that what Cristina Zavala told us is absolutely the truth.” Is the Ninth Circuit’s denial of a COA on Salguero’s prosecutorial misconduct claim contrary to this Court’s jurisprudence? i PARTIES AND LIST OF PRIOR PROCEEDINGS The parties to this proceeding are Petitioner Jorge Armando Herrera Salguero and Respondent the People of the State of California; Craig Koenig is the Acting Warden of the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, where Petitioner is incarcerated pursuant to the judgment he is challenging. The California Attorney General represents Respondent. Salguero was convicted in the Riverside County Superior Court in People v. Jorge Armando Herrera Salguero, case no. SWF 120846, Judge Michael J. Rushton, presiding, in 2014. Judgment was entered against Salguero on December 12, 2014. Reporter’s transcript of trial, district court docket 33, lodgment 1, at 900, 908. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment on appeal in People v. Salguero, case no. E062563, on January 7, 2016 in an unpublished opinion. Petitioner’s