Jack Cook v. Brent Reinke

MEMORANDUM

Jack Keith Cook appeals the denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and our review is controlled by the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”). We affirm.

Cook argues that the Idaho Court of Appeals’s decision affirming his conviction for committing “the infamous crime against nature,” Idaho Code § 18-6605 , is contrary to, and an unreasonable application of, the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , 123 S.Ct. 2472 , 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), because he was punished for committing an act of private, consensual sex with an adult, “T.F.” The Idaho Court of Appeals’s decision is not contrary to Lawrence , however, because the court concluded that § 18-6605 cannot be used to criminalize sex occurring in private between consenting adults, the conduct protected by Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 578 , 123 S.Ct. 2472 (concluding that the government could not punish private sexual conduct between adults engaging in such activity “with full and mutual consent from each other”). Nor is the decision an unreasonable application of Lawrence because, under Lawrence , states may still…