Lewis v. Mazurkiewicz

OPINION OF THE COURT

ALITO, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a district court order granting Melvin Lewis’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court concluded that Lewis’s constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel was violated by his attorney’s decision not to interview and call a potential witness who could have purportedly bolstered a claim of self-defense and that this decision caused sufficient prejudice to necessitate overturning the conviction. We reverse and hold that petitioner failed to show either that his attorney’s performance was…