Leyva v. Williams

OPINION OF THE COURT

FUENTES, Circuit Judge.

Armando Leyva was convicted in Phila-, delphia’s Court of Common Pleas of statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor. Leyva, who was thirty-five years old at the time, had engaged in a six-month sexual relationship with a teenage girl who attended his church. He was sentenced to eleven-and-a-half to twenty-three months in prison, followed by three years of probation.

Represented by new appellate counsel, Leyva sought direct and collateral state court review of his conviction, asserting various claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.…