Deandre Howard v. Martin Biter

MEMORANDUM

Martin Biter, Acting Warden, appeals the district court’s order granting Califor nia state prisoner Deandre Maurice Howard’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Howard was convicted of one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He was sentenced to a term of seventy-five years to life in state prison, plus another consecutive life term. Howard filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging inter alia, that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to interview, investigate and/or call the only surviving victim, Arthur Ragland, to testify on Howard’s behalf at trial.

The district court initially denied Howard’s § 2254 petition. On appeal, we reversed in part and remanded for an evi-dentiary hearing on Howard’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim, stating that “if Ragland was ready and willing to testify as to Howard’s innocence, and Howard was deprived of such testimony because of his attorney’s shoddy investigation, our confidence in the jury’s verdict would be significantly undermined.” Howard v. Clark,…