Holloway

MEMORANDUM ***

California Department of Corrections Director Cal Terhune appeals the district court’s order granting Petitioner Keith Holloway’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

1. The district court applied the correct standard of review. The California Superior Court denied the habeas petition in a generally worded two-sentence minute order. The California Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court denied the habeas petition without opinion. When a state court supplies no reasoned decision for its denial of a habeas petition, the district court in a habeas context must “perform an ‘independent review of the record’ to ascertain whether the state court decision was objectively unreasonable.” Himes v. Thompson, 336 F.3d 848, 853 (9th Cir.2003) (quoting Delgado v. Lewis, 223 F.3d 976, 982 (9th Cir.2000)).

After conducting an independent review of the record and an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate judge applied 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1) and ruled that Petitioner had demonstrated ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 690-93 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), with respect to the public defender’s failure to…