Sophia Daire v. Mary Lattimore

A California state prisoner petitions this court for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012). Currently serving a forty-year “three strikes” sentence for first-degree burglary, California Penal Code § 459, the petitioner argues that she was deprived of effective assistance when her attorney failed to present evidence of mental illness at sentencing. Because the state’s adjudication of this claim was not an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d), we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of the petition.

I.

Sophia Daire is a 48-year-old woman who has, by all accounts, led a rather difficult life. Her personal history is an unfortunate tapestry of poverty, addiction, mental illness, and incarceration. Interwoven among these dark elements is a disturbing pattern of violence, with Daire having suffered repeated physical and sexual abuse at the hands of friends, family members, and unknown assailants.

On September 8, 2006, Daire was charged with first-degree burglary in vior lation of § 459 of the California Penal Code. A neighborhood resident had reported…