Opinion ID: 178768
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standard of review

Text: In an appeal from the district court’s grant of habeas relief, we review issues of law de novo and findings of fact for clear error. Fratta v. Quarterman, 536 F.3d 485, 499 (5th Cir. 2008). Wiley’s habeas petition is governed by the standards of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C. § 2254, because he filed his Atkins claim well after the effective date of the AEDPA. See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 324–26 (1997). Under those standards, a federal court may not grant a petitioner habeas relief on a claim that was adjudicated on the merits by the state court unless the state court decision was (1) “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court,” or (2) “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d); see Pierce v. Thaler, 604 F.3d 197, 200 (5th Cir. 2010). “A state court decision is ‘contrary to’ clearly established federal law if it applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in Supreme Court cases . . . or if the state court decide[s] a case differently than the United States Supreme Court previously decided a case on a set of nearly identical facts.” Jones v. Cain, 600 F.3d 527, 535 (5th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). A state court’s decision is an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law if it “correctly identifies the governing legal rule but applies it unreasonably to the facts of a particular prisoner’s case.” Gregory v. Thaler, 601 F.3d 347, 352 (5th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). An unreasonable application of federal law is different from 6 No. 09-70037 an incorrect or erroneous application of the law. Rogers v. Quarterman, 555 F.3d 483, 488–89 (5th Cir. 2009) (citing Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 409–10 (2000)).