Bentz v. Smith

SUMMARY ORDER

Petitioner-appellant Patrick Bentz appeals from a July 2008 district court judgment denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus. After his first jury trial conviction was reversed on appeal, see People v. Bentz, 232 A.D.2d 498, 648 N.Y.S.2d 642 (2d Dep’t 1996), Bentz was convicted in the County Court of Rockland County, New York, of second-degree murder, in 1997. The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed petitioner’s conviction in November 2001, and his application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals was denied in January 2002. Bentz was represented at trial and…