Ramirez v. Attorney General of New York
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
Petitioner-appellant Ceasar Ramirez appeals from the October 26, 2004 judgment and November 5, 2004 amended judgment of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York (McMahon, J.) dismissing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts of the case, its procedural history and the arguments on appeal.
Ramirez claims that the district court erred in dismissing his claim that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel when his defense attorney failed to withdraw in order to testify as a witness about the alleged extortionate threats made by Ramirez’s daughter (the “advocate-witness claim”). The district court found that Ramirez had not “fairly presented” that claim to the New York Court of Appeals, see Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275, 92 S.Ct. 509, 30 L.Ed.2d 438 (1971), and that he had made no showing of cause and prejudice for the failure to do so, Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 87, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977).
The description of Ramirez’s daughter and the citation to pages 8-10 appeared in a portion of the letter responding to the prosecution’s argument that Ramirez suffered no prejudice from his allegedly ineffective assistance of counsel because of the overwhelming evidence of guilt against him. We therefore agree with the district court that it is inappropriate to construe them as having presented the advocate-witness issue as a separate claim.
With respect to the citation to page 50, we also agree with the district court that in the context of this case, the citation to a page of an attached brief, without more, did not sufficiently alert the state court of the factual and legal basis of Ramirez’s advocate-witness claim. In Ramirez v. Attorney Gen. of N.Y., 280 F.3d 87 (2d Cir. 2001) (“Ramirez I”),
Our conclusion is reinforced by the fact that page 50 of Ramirez’s Appellate Division brief couched Ramirez’s advocate-witness claim only as a violation of state disciplinary law, not federal constitutional law. Thus, the reference was also insufficient to put the Court on notice of the federal legal basis of Ramirez’s claim. See
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
. In Ramirez I, we affirmed in part and vacated in part the district court's dismissal of Ramirez’s habeas claims, and remanded so that the district court could determine which of Ramirez’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims were properly exhausted. 280 F.3d 87, 89-90. 96.
. We need not reach appellees’ argument that Baldwin "indirectly overruled” Ramirez I, because both cases—as well as other precedent that predated Baldwin—compel a dismissal of the petition.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ceasar A. RAMIREZ v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF the STATE OF NEW YORK, Louis F. Mann, Superintendent of Shawangunk Correctional Facility
- Status
- Published