Borg

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner John Leslie Borg appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus. We affirm.

1. We need not decide whether AED-PA applies, that is, whether the original unsigned petition or the later signed petition commenced the proceeding. Woodford v. Garceau, 538 U.S. 202, 210 , 123 S.Ct. 1398 , 155 L.Ed.2d 363 (2003). That is so because our decision would be the same whichever standard of review we employ.

2. Trial counsel’s failure to file a third motion for change of venue, after voir dire, did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness, the first prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688-89 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Trial counsel vigorously pursued a change of venue, developed and introduced substantial evidence in support of two motions for change of venue, and litigated the matter — albeit unsuccessfully — all the way to the California Supreme Court, twice. Voir dire did not reveal information that would have improved the record that counsel already had made on the change-of-venue question. Particularly in view of counsel’s apparent judgment that the petit jurors were actually fair (he did not…