Guzman

MEMORANDUM ***

Jason Guzman appeals the district court’s denial of his habeas petition. The *409 facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties, and are restated herein only as necessary.

I

Guzman first argues that his trial counsel, Cynthia Kairys, rendered ineffective assistance by failing to move to suppress an allegedly coerced statement made by Angela Nunez—Guzman’s then-girlfriend—to police. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Even if we were to agree that the statement had been coerced and could have been suppressed, the decision not to object to the statement was a sound strategic one. Nunez’s statement both corroborated Guzman’s alibi and reinforced his third-party culpability theory, his two main lines of defense. See Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 521 , 123 S.Ct. 2527 , 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003) (“Strategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable.” (citation omitted)); Murtishaw v. Woodford, 255 F.3d 926, 951 (9th Cir.2001). Even if this strategy were not sound, the error did not prejudice Guzman. Nunez’s statement would have been…