Mathew Manzano v. W. Montgomery

MEMORANDUM

Mathew Manzano (“Manzano”) appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Manzano challenges his murder conviction on the ground that his attorney furnished ineffective assistance of counsel by failing sufficiently to object to the prosecutor’s misstatement during his closing argument that DNA evidence linked Manzano to one of the murder victims. We affirm.

Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), to prevail on a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel, a petitioner must show: “(1) that counsel’s performance was deficient, and (2) that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense.” Gallegos v. Ryan, 820 F.3d 1013, 1025 (9th Cir. 2016) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because Manzano filed his federal habeas petition after April 24, 1996, we apply the standards set forth in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). See, e.g., Smith v. Swarthout, 742 F.3d 885, 892 (9th Cir. 2014). Accordingly, Manzano is entitled to relief only if the California Court of Appeal’s adjudication of his claim “(1) resulted in a decision that was…