Nguyen

MEMORANDUM *

Tai Tan Nguyen (“Nguyen”), currently serving 15 years to life for rape, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. Nguyen argues that his counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate the results of the DNA test of the victim, which found sperm and non-sperm DNA from at least two sources, none of which matched Nguyen’s and only one of which matched the victim’s husband/boyfriend’s DNA. Nguyen asserts that his counsel’s ineffectiveness included his failure to investigate (1) who the other source or sources of the semen were, (2) whether the victim had a motive to lie in accusing Nguyen, (3) whether the victim believed the rapist ejaculated inside her, and (4) the likelihood that no sperm and no non-sperm samples would remain following a rape. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We reverse the district court and remand for an evidentiary hearing on Nguyen’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

There are only two disputed issues on this appeal. First, the state argues that Nguyen did not properly exhaust his ineffective assistance of counsel claim in state court. The state asserts that…