Phung

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner-Appellant Doi Phung was convicted of murder, street terrorism, possession of stolen property, and carrying a loaded firearm for his role in killing a fifteen-year-old innocent bystander during gang warfare. He appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.

Because Phung filed his petition after the effective date of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Phung must show that the state court’s decision on the merits “resulted in a decision that was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established [fjederal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 1 An “unreasonable application of clearly established Federal law” occurs where a state court’s application of Supreme Court law is “clearly erroneous.”

Phung first claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his trial counsel (1) stipulated to the admission into evidence of transcripts of police interviews with two other gang members and (2) decided not to call several witnesses to testify. To prevail on his ineffective assistance claim, Strickland v. Washington requires Phung to…