Manriquez

MEMORANDUM **

We affirm the district court’s denial of Manriquez’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition challenging his conviction for three counts of first-degree murder.

In order to succeed on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, a defendant must prove both that counsel was so deficient as to not be functioning as “counsel” within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment and that this deficiency prejudiced the defendant. 1 The counsel’s conduct is granted a “strong presumption” of reasonability, particularly with regard to trial strategy. 2 This standard is the same for both appellate counsel and trial counsel. 3 Neither Manriquez’s trial counsel nor his appellate counsel engaged in conduct that fell below this standard. The deficiencies that Manriquez complains of were, in both instances, reasonable in light of the evidence that counsel had at the time and, moreover, were part of sound trial strategy. Nor has Manriquez established that he suffered prejudice. 4 Tatum’s proposed testimony, even in the unlikely event that he gave it, would have done Manriquez no good because, as the state habeas court found, the testimony was totally incredible.

Manriquez’s claim that Black’s in-court…