James Hardy v. Kevin Chappell, Warden

This is a standard habeas case governed by AEDPA that requires us to evaluate the reasonableness of the state court’s determination that an error — here, an error made by defense counsel — was not prejudicial. In a unanimous 57-page opinion, the California Supreme Court found that under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), James Edward Hardy did not receive competent representation from his trial- lawyer, who failed to discover evidence tending to show that Hardy was not the person who stabbed the mother and child to death. In re Hardy, 41 Cal.4th…