Anthony Castellanos v. Larry Small

Petitioner Anthony Castellanos was convicted in California state court of murder, assault with a firearm, and street gang solicitation. On direct appeal, the California Court of Appeal affirmed Castellanos’s convictions, concluding that the prosecution had not engaged in purposeful discrimination in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), when it exercised four peremptory strikes against Hispanic veni-repersons. The district court denied Cas-tellanos’s application for habeas relief. Because we conclude that Castellanos’s state court proceedings “resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented,” 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(2), we reverse the district court’s judgment and remand with instructions to grant Castellanos’s application.

I.

Petitioner Anthony Castellanos, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident giving rise to this case, was at his apartment with his 11-year-old and 12-year-old neighbors, Joey and Nicky. Castellanos was trying to recruit Nicky to join his gang, the King Kobras, but Nicky had previously refused. Castellanos, who had been cooking…