Albino Perez v. Terry Rosario

In this habeas corpus appeal, we must decide whether an attorney’s alleged faulty advice to his criminal defendant client during the plea bargaining process in state court constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel.

I

In 1987 Albino Perez’s girlfriend left him for John Hernandez. Perez took a hammer to Hernandez and broke his arm before he was pulled off.

A

Eight years later, Hernandez was driving his Honda Prelude home from running an errand, sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 PM on April 16, 1995, when he observed a dark-colored BMW stopped in the street. When he pulled forward to investigate, he saw Perez in the driver’s seat, wearing a blue-knit cap. Perez then pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun. Hernandez sped away while Perez fired several shots. Hernandez escaped unhurt but his car was riddled with bullet holes.

The police searched the area and found ten-millimeter shell casings and a ten-millimeter bullet. They went to Perez’s house but were unable to find a BMW there, outside or in the garage. Two days later, they returned with an arrest warrant and found a dark-blue BMW parked in front, which they towed because it would not start. The police also found a…