Cardoza v. Rock

SACK, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Paul A. Crotty, Judge) granting petitioner William Cardo-za’s application 1 for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, we consider whether a state court’s decision rejecting Cardoza’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims rested on an “unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented,” id. § 2254(d)(2).

Cardoza was tried and convicted of drug conspiracy and possession charges, and sentenced to forty years to life by a state court…