The following excerpt is from Johnson v. Clay, No. 2:08-cv-2035 WBS KJN P (E.D. Cal. 2011):
Since procedural default is an affirmative defense, respondent bears the burden of pleading and proving that the state procedural bar is adequate and independent while petitioner bears the interim burden of placing the adequacy of the defense at issue. See Bennett v. Mueller, 322 F.3d 573, 585 (9th Cir. 2003). Here, respondent met the initial burden by pleading that this claim is procedurally defaulted for petitioner's failure to object at trial. The burden then shifted to petitioner to place the adequacy of the contemporaneous objection rule into question as "the
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