In this task, you will be shown a prompt from a judicial decision and multiple holding statements derived from citations following text in a legal decision. Holdings represent the governing legal rule when the law is applied to a particular set of facts. There are five answer choices for each citing text. The correct answer is the holding statement that corresponds to the citing text. The four incorrect answers are other holding statements. You should find the correct option. There is a <HOLDING> token in the position of the citing text prompt where the holding statement was extracted.
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Question: that she disapproved of what she reasonably believed to be unlawful retaliation. B. Form and Context To the extent that Thomas' conduct was expressive, the message was communicated to her immediate supervisor, Miller, and other court employees. She did not, however, attempt to inform the general public about the allegedly retaliatory practices. That Thomas chose to convey her views privately rather than publicly is not determinative of whether her expression is entitled to protection. See Givhan v. W. Line Consol. Sch. Dist., 439 U.S. 410, 415-16, 99 S.Ct. 693, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979). Because content is the most important factor, we have concluded that speech about a matter of public concern may be protected even when made in a private context. See, e.g., Ceballos, 361 F.3d at 1174 (<HOLDING>); Ulrich, 308 F.3d at 979 ("[T]he public
Holding statements: (A) holding that when protected speech is inextricable from unprotected speech the court will treat the entire message as protected (B) holding that a written offer accepted by parol may constitute a sufficient memorandum of the contract provided the person making the offer is the party to be charged (C) holding that a memorandum given to the employees supervisors was protected speech when the memorandum alleged criminal wrongdo ing (D) holding that after the district court determined that the plaintiffs speech was protected the court was required to inform the jury of its ruling that knapps speech was constitutionally protected (E) holding the separate document rule violated when the alleged judgment was included with the memorandum and order of the court

Answer: (C)

Question: and the prosecutor, the Court finds, one, there is a factual basis for the entry of the plea[.]" We conclude that the summary of the facts presented by the prosecutor and Defendant's stipulations are sufficient to establish a factual basis for Defendant's guilty plea. Specifically, the prosecutor's statements that the victim "is 80 years of age" and "is crippled in her knees with arthritis and requires a crutch to walk" and that Defendant "told his mother that he would kill her and cut her heart out[,]" "grabbed the victim[,]" and "slung her across the room twice and then hit her with her crutch" provided a sufficient factual basis to support Defendant's guilty plea. See N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-32.1(a) & (e); see also State v. May, 159 N.C. App. 159, 166, 583 S.E.2d 302, 306 (2003) (<HOLDING>). Accordingly, we conclude this argument has no
Holding statements: (A) holding that right to challenge factual basis is waived by guilty plea (B) holding that district court abused discretion in denying motion to withdraw plea based on intervening supreme court decision that may have rendered factual basis of plea insufficient (C) holding that based on the facts presented by the state and the defendants stipulation to the existence of a factual basis for his plea the court properly determined a factual basis for the plea existed (D) holding that although defendant is not entitled to appeal from his guilty plea as a matter of right his arguments challenging the factual basis for his guilty plea are reviewable pursuant to a petition for writ of certiorari (E) holding that district court properly considered a police report that the defendant had stipulated contained a factual basis for his plea

Answer: (C)

Question: the same test is used with respect to appellate counsel."). In other words, Petitioner "must first show that his counsel was objectively unreasonable" in failing to raise the issue on appeal, and then "must show a reasonable probability that, but for his counsel's unreasonable failure [to raise the issue], he would have prevailed on his appeal." Smith, 528 U.S. at 285-86, 120 S.Ct. 746. Under the first prong, "it is difficult to demonstrate that counsel was incompetent" for "fail[ing] to raise a particular claim" because "appellate counsel ... need not (and should not) raise every non-frivolous claim, but rather may select from among them in order to maximize the likelihood of success on appeal." Smith, 528 U.S. at 288, 120 S.Ct. 746; see also Jones, 463 U.S. at 754, 103 S.Ct. 3308 (<HOLDING>); Aparicio, 269 F.3d at 95 ("Counsel is not
Holding statements: (A) holding that where trial counsel was not ineffective appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise claim of ineffectiveness of trial counsel (B) holding that appellate counsel is not required to raise meritless issues on appeal (C) holding that similar argument did not raise a colorable question of law for purposes of jurisdiction (D) recognizing that appellate counsel is under no duty to raise every colorable claim suggested by a client (E) recognizing that every theory of relief must raise federal issue for claim to arise under federal law

Answer:
(D)