Strong

MEMORANDUM **

Donald Strong was convicted of battery with serious bodily injury under section 243(d) of the California Penal Code after he hit Mark Martin with an aluminum baseball bat during an argument over a basketball game. He sought a grant of habeas corpus, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct. The district court denied the petition and we affirm, concluding that the state court proffered reasonable findings of fact and a reasonable application of clearly established Federal law as required under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d) (2000).

Strong claims that his counsel was ineffective because he failed to call certain witnesses, stipulated to the victim’s injuries, and did not object during the prosecution’s closing argument. We hold that all of trial counsel’s actions were reasonable, and fall well within the “the wide latitude counsel must have in making tactical decisions.” Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 689 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Contrary to Strong’s claims, the witnesses’ pretrial interviews affirm that the two men could not bolster, and might in fact harm,…