Mercado-Ulloa

MEMORANDUM **

Samuel Mercado-Ulloa (Mercado) challenges his 1996 federal conviction, which in part relied on a taped conversation involving Mercado, a co-conspirator and a government informant. His trial counsel recognized that the tape was unclear and garbled in places, but did not object to its admissibility. She stipulated to the jury’s use of a transcript while the informant was testifying and did not try to impeach the government’s translation of the tape. In a successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition, Mercado claims that trial counsel was ineffective on these accounts. The district court dismissed his petition without an evidentiary hearing. Where, as here, “the motion and the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief,” an evidentiary hearing is not required. 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (b); see United States v. Leonti, 326 F.3d 1111, 1116 (9th Cir.2003). We therefore affirm.

*570 Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), “strategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts ... are virtually unchallengeable.” Id. at 690 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 . The record conclusively establishes that…