Jude Lahens v. Secretary, Department of Corrections

USCA11 Case: 22-13228 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 08/12/2025 Page: 1 of 23

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-13228

Non-Argument Calendar

____________________

JUDE BERNADO LAHENS,

Petitioner-Appellant,

versus

SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,

ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA,

Respondents-Appellees.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 6:19-cv-01433-RBD-EJK

____________________

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2 Opinion of the Court 22-13228

Before ROSENBAUM, BRANCH, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Jude Lahens is a Florida prisoner serving a 20-year

minimum-mandatory term of imprisonment after a jury convicted

him in 2010 of attempted second-degree murder (Count 1) and

aggravated battery with a firearm (Count 2). He appeals the district

court’s denial of his pro se 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of

habeas corpus.1 We granted him a certificate of appealability on

the following two issues:

(1) “Did Lahen’s trial counsel provide ineffective

assistance, pursuant to Strickland v. Washington,

466 U.S. 668 (1984), by failing to introduce his pre-

trial hearing testimony at trial in order to support

his self-defense claim for Count 2?”

(2) “Did Lahens trial counsel provide ineffective

assistance, pursuant to Strickland v. Washington,

466 U.S. 668 (1984), by failing to request an

instruction on the justifiable use of non-deadly

force related to Count 2?”

After careful review, we affirm.

1 Although Lahens proceeded pro se in the district court, he has counsel on

appeal.

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I. Background

In 2009, the state of Florida charged Lahens with the

attempted first-degree murder with a firearm of Jose Rodriguez

(Count 1) and aggravated battery with a firearm of Sonny Dorelie.

Prior to trial, Lahens moved to dismiss the charges based on stand-

your-ground immunity under Fla. Stat. § 776.032, 2 which extends

immunity from prosecution to individuals who used force to

defend themselves. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on

the motion. At the hearing, numerous witnesses to the incident in

2 Section 766.032 provides that “[a] person who uses or threatens to use force

as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in such conduct

and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use or

threatened use of such force . . . .” Fla. Stat. § 766.032. At the time of Lahen’s

trial, § 766.012, in turn provided as follows:

A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against

another when and to the extent that the person reasonably

believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or

herself or another against the other’s imminent use of

unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of

deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:

(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is

necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to

himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent

commission of a forcible felony; or

(2) Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to

[§] 776.013.

Fla. Stat. § 776.012 (2011).

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question testified, including Lahens, his brother Berlin, and the

alleged victims of the charged offenses.

Testimony at the hearing established that Lahens, his

brother Berlin, Berlin’s girlfriend, and some other friends went to

a nightclub in downtown Orlando in February 2009 to celebrate

Lahens’s and another friend’s birthdays. They left the club at

around 2:30 a.m. Upon exiting the club, Berlin and his girlfriend

walked ahead of Lahens and their group of friends toward the car.

Lahens testified that, as he was leaving, he started “[m]aking

friendly conversation” with a female from another group of people

in an attempt to “pick her up.” At that point, a man began getting

“aggressive” with Lahens and told him to leave the female alone.

Once they entered the parking lot, the man punched Lahens, and

a fight broke out. Lahens then observed his brother, Berlin,

running towards the fight. He also observed Jose Rodriguez, who

was with the female’s group, running towards him. According to

Lahens, Rodriguez reached Berlin first and put a gun to Berlin’s

face (at which point the fighting stopped). Upon seeing the

situation, Lahens turned around and ran to his truck to retrieve his

gun. Lahens heard Rodriguez threaten to shoot Berlin, and Berlin

told him to “go ahead.” Lahens explained that, after he retrieved

his gun from his truck, Sonny Dorelie, a man with the other group,

“came at [Lahens] very aggressively” and starting “pushing him”

and “grabbing [him].” Unable to push Dorelie away, Lahens hit

Dorelie in the face with the butt of his gun. Having disengaged

with Dorelie, Lahens observed that Rodriguez, who still had his

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gun pointed at Berlin, was backing away from Berlin and “was

pretty much by his car already.” Lahens aimed his gun in

Rodriguez’s direction and shot. Rodriguez never pointed his gun

at Lahens or fired his gun. Lahens then left the scene.

Lahen’s brother, Berlin, testified that, upon seeing the fight,

he went to his “brother’s aid” and tried to break up the fight. Berlin

maintained that, although he did not fight anyone, Rodriguez put

a pistol in Berlin’s face. Berlin started yelling and cursing at

Rodriguez and dared him to shoot. The next thing Berlin knew, he

saw Lahens with a gun pointed at Rodriguez. The fighting had

pretty much stopped at this point, and Rodriguez began backing up

once Lahens pointed the gun at him, but Rodriguez kept his

firearm pointed at Berlin the whole time. When Rodriguez was

about 15 to 20 feet away from Berlin, Lahens fired three shots at

Rodriguez. Rodriguez never fired any shots and never said

anything to Berlin. After Lahens fired the shots, Berlin, Lahens,

and their friends left.

Other witnesses testified, including Rodriguez and Dorelie,

who disputed Lahens’s and Berlin’s version of events. For instance,

Rodriguez denied pulling a gun or pointing it at Berlin. Instead, he

stated that he only obtained his gun from his car after Lahens

started shooting. Dorelie testified that he was trying to help break

up the fight and deescalate the situation when Lahens hit him in

the face with a gun and pointed it at him. Dorelie never saw

Rodriguez with a gun.

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The district court denied the motion to dismiss, and the case

proceeded to trial. At trial, Lahens’s defense was that his actions

were justified, and that he only pulled his gun because his brother

was being threatened with a gun. The jury heard testimony from

multiple witnesses including, Rodriguez, Dorelie, Berlin, Berlin’s

girlfriend, and other bystanders who witnessed parts of the

incident.

Specifically, Nicole Patrizz and Skyler Andrews, testified

that they left the club with Rodriguez, Dorelie, and their friend

Holvens Pierre-Louis at approximately 2:30 a.m. and headed to a

nearby parking lot. While they were walking back, Lahens

approached the two females and persistently asked for their

numbers. Both women said no. At some point during this

encounter, Lahens grabbed Skyler’s arm, and their friend Pierre-

Louis intervened and told Lahens to leave the women alone.

Lahens and Pierre-Louis then started fighting, and the other men

in both Lahens’s group and the females’ group joined in on the

fighting.

Patrizz and Andrews testified that a guy in Lahens’s group

(but not Lahens) went to a truck and pulled a gun during the fight,

but then he put it away. At which point, Lahens pulled a gun, hit

Dorelie in the face, and pointed the gun at Rodriguez and started

shooting. Patrizz could not say whether Dorelie approached

Lahens or Lahens approached Dorelie, but Andrews testified that

Dorelie was “running” toward Lahens when Lahens hit him.

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Patrizz and Andrews said that Rodriguez did not have a gun at that

point.

Pierre-Louis testified to a similar version of events and

explained that Dorelie had intervened in the fight “trying to diffuse,

trying to stop anything else from happening.” Pierre-Louis

explained that he saw one of the men in Lahens’s group grab a

pistol, and Pierre-Louis yelled out to alert Rodriguez that they had

a gun. The individual then put the gun back in the car. Pierre-

Louis then explained that Dorelie was talking to Lahens and trying

to calm him down when he saw Lahens grab a gun and hit Dorelie

in the face.

Dorelie testified that, when he saw Pierre-Louis fighting

with three other guys, he ran toward the fight. He explained that

by the time he got there, the fight had basically stopped, but both

groups were yelling and arguing with each other. He grabbed one

of the guys (not Lahens) that had been fighting and told him to

“chill. Let’s somebody squash all of this right now. Let’s chill right

now. Let’s end this right now.” Dorelie explained that he was

“trying to get everyone to just shut up” and end the situation.

Dorelie heard someone yell gun,3 he saw Rodriguez was on the

ground, and then someone sucker punched Dorelie. When

Dorelie turned back around, he was “immediately” “hit in the face”

with a metal object before he could see anything. And when

Dorelie opened his eyes, Lahens had a gun pointed in his face, and

3 Dorelie did not know who had a gun, and he did not see a gun.

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he was looking toward Rodriguez’s car. Lahens asked Dorelie

whether Rodriguez had a gun. Dorelie told Lahens “man, just let

it go.” Lahens then pointed the gun toward Rodriguez’s car, which

Rodriguez was hiding behind and fired three shots. After firing,

Lahens pointed the gun back at Dorelie, and then Lahens’s group

got in their car and sped off.

Dorelie emphasized that he was talking to “all [of] them”

before Lahens hit him with a gun. He explained,

I told everybody basically, let’s end this. Let’s squash

this. I wasn’t rude. I didn’t curse, nothing like that. I

didn’t come at nobody with threatening gestures. I

didn’t act like I was reaching for any kind of weapon.

I didn’t ball my fist. I said let’s kill this right here.

That’s it. I didn’t say nothing rude, I didn’t curse. I

didn’t curse at nobody.

On cross-examination, Dorelie denied walking with Lahens

toward Lahens’s truck, and denied having any conversation with

Lahens before being hit with the gun. Instead, he maintained that

he was talking generally to everyone, trying to get everyone to end

the situation. Dorelie admitted that he omitted from his statement

to police that Lahens pointed the gun at him, explaining that he

was “really shook up” when he made the statement. Dorelie

denied that he was trying to stop Lahens when he got hit with the

gun.

Rodriguez testified that, when he saw Pierre-Louis in a fight,

he ran toward the fight, and he was immediately hit and fell to the

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ground. He heard Pierre-Louis yell “gun,” and Rodriguez ran to

his car to take cover. Lahens started shooting, and Rodriguez got

his gun out of his car. He did not see Dorelie get hit in the face.

After the third shot, Rodriguez came around his vehicle and aimed

the gun at Lahens, but Lahens had already turned to leave.

Rodriguez did not shoot, and he denied pulling his gun first or ever

pointing it at anyone else.

Lahens did not testify at trial, but the prosecution played an

audio recording of a statement that Lahens made to police. In this

statement, Lahens admitted that he hit Dorelie in the face with the

gun. When asked what Dorelie was doing at the time, Lahens

stated “oh well he was a Samaritan breakin’ it up.” When asked

how Dorelie got hit in the face with the gun, Lahens stated, “[o]h

well he came when I got my gun he jumped in my face and that’s

when I hit him with it.” Detectives testified that Lahens’s story

“changed several times from the beginning to the middle to the

end, in a lot of different areas.” For instance, initially Lahens told

police “several times” that he was alone, that Rodriguez’s group

had picked a fight with him and pulled a gun on him, and he pulled

one in response. When confronted with the fact that multiple

witnesses indicated Lahens was not alone, Lahens admitted that his

brother was with him. Lahens told detectives that he did not

mention anyone else with him because “he didn’t want to get his

friends involved.” One of the detectives testified generally,

without getting into specifics, that Lahens’s description of

Rodriguez’s and Dorelie’s actions also changed. Finally, one of the

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detectives stated that Lahens “kept referring to someone that was

a good Samaritan trying to break it up.”

Berlin testified that, when he saw his brother in a fight, he

ran to try and break up the fight. As he was trying to break things

up, Rodriguez shoved a gun in his face. Berlin then heard shots

ring out, and Berlin turned to see Lahens shooting. Rodriguez had

the gun pointed at Berlin the entire time but was backing up

toward his vehicle when the shooting started. 4 After Lahens fired

three shots, they left. Berlin’s girlfriend corroborated his story.

Following deliberations, the jury found Lahens guilty of the

lesser-included offense of attempted second degree murder of

Rodriguez and aggravated battery with a firearm of Dorelie.

Lahens was sentenced to the minimum-mandatory 20-year term of

imprisonment.

Following his direct appeal, Lahens filed a motion for

postconviction relief, pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850, arguing in

relevant part, that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to

(1) introduce at trial Lahens’s testimony from the pre-trial motion

to dismiss hearing; and (2) request a justifiable use of non-deadly

force instruction for the aggravated battery charge involving victim

Dorelie. The state postconviction court summarily denied the

ineffective assistance claim based on the failure to admit the pre-

4Neither Berlin nor his girlfriend testified to any details regarding Lahens’s

encounter with Dorelie.

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trial testimony, but granted an evidentiary hearing on the claim

related to the non-deadly force jury instruction.

At the evidentiary hearing,5 Patrick Cairns, Lahens’s trial

counsel, explained that Lahens did not testify at trial, and Lahens

had said in his statement to the police “a couple of times” that

Dorelie was a good Samaritan trying to break up the fight when

Lahens hit him with the gun. Thus, Cairns explained that “there

was nothing to suggest that [Dorelie] hit anybody.” Accordingly,

he did not request an instruction on the use of non-deadly force

because he “didn’t want to lose credibility with the jury.” Instead,

he argued as a defense that Lahens’s hitting Dorelie was an

“accident”—“a simple battery, that in the heat of the moment,

somebody was there and [Lahens] struck him thinking it was, you

know, one of the other assailants.”

Lahens questioned Cairns on cross-examination about why

Cairns did not pursue a non-deadly use of force instruction given

that Lahens had told Cairns that Dorelie had “aggressively grabbed

[him] and would not let go.” Cairns explained that he could not do

so because Lahens had not stated in his statement to police that

Dorelie grabbed him; Lahens did not testify at trial; and Cairns

cross-examined Dorelie to try and bring up that Dorelie had

grabbed Lahens, “but [Dorelie] wouldn’t admit” that he had done

so. In response, Lahens pointed out that he had testified at the pre-

trial evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss that Dorelie had

5 Lahens proceeded pro se at this evidentiary hearing.

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grabbed him and would not let go and asked why Cairns had not

presented that evidence to the jury. Cairns stated that “the State

objected that it was hearsay. . . . If we wanted to get that statement

in, you would have had to testify during the trial.”

Following the hearing, the state postconviction court found

Cairns “to be a credible witness who articulated a reasonable trial

strategy based on his investigation and analysis of the evidence.”

The trial court explained that counsel’s “decision not to request an

instruction on the justifiable use of non-deadly force was

reasonable under the facts and circumstances of this case.” Lahens

appealed the denial of both claims. On appeal, Florida’s Fifth

District Court of Appeal (“DCA”) reversed the summary denial and

remanded for a second evidentiary hearing on the ineffective

assistance claim based on the failure to admit the pre-trial

testimony. However, it affirmed the denial of the ineffective

assistance claim based on the jury instruction.

At the second evidentiary hearing,6 Lahens testified that he

believed his trial counsel should have attempted to admit his prior

testimony from the pre-trial evidentiary hearing because the

testimony would have helped with his theory that his actions were

justified, particularly given that he did not testify at trial. Lahens

stated that he had wanted to testify, but his counsel advised him

not to. Lahens stated that he ultimately decided not to testify, but

he requested that his trial counsel submit Lahens’s testimony from

6 Lahens retained counsel for the second evidentiary hearing.

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the prior evidentiary hearing. However, his counsel “told [him]

that he couldn’t submit it for whatever reason.”

On cross-examination, Lahens denied that he told police

that Dorelie was acting as good Samaritan. He then admitted that

he used the word “samaritan” in his statement to police, but he

explained that he “meant to say pedestrian.” When asked whether

Dorelie was “trying to break things up,” Lahens stated “[a]t the

time, that’s what I believed.” He admitted that he described

Dorelie’s actions differently at the pre-trial hearing when he

testified that Dorelie had grabbed him and acted aggressively.

Cairns testified that he thought he had attempted to

introduce the testimony from the pre-trial evidentiary hearing but

that the trial judge would not allow it. However, later, he testified

that he was not entirely sure that he had sought to admit the

transcript. He recalled that “[t]here was some issues with that

testimony being a little different than what was originally

reported.” Specifically, there were things in the testimony from

the pre-trial evidentiary hearing that Cairns “discussed with Mr.

Lahens that [Cairns] thought [he] didn’t really want the jury to

have to consider or decide.” He again highlighted that there were

“some inconsistencies with” Lahens’s statement to police and his

pre-trial evidentiary hearing testimony. He further explained that

there “was also a strategic reason not to [bring in the transcript]

because there [were] some inconsistencies with what went on

between [Lahens’s] testimony and his brother’s.”

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Following the second evidentiary hearing, the state

postconviction court denied Lahens’s claim on the merits. The

court noted that Cairns had testified that he tried to have the pre-

trial testimony admitted, even though “there was also a strategic

reason not to introduce the hearing testimony” due to

inconsistencies between Lahens’s and Berlin’s testimony. The trial

court concluded that there was “no deficient performance or

prejudice arising out of [counsel’s] failure to get the transcript into

evidence.” Lahens appealed, and the Fifth DCA summarily

affirmed. Lahens filed a motion for rehearing, which was denied.

Thereafter, Lahens, proceeding pro se, filed the underlying

28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus, asserting

among other claims, the two ineffective-assistance claims discussed

above. The district court denied the § 2254 petition on the merits

and denied a certificate of appealability. As noted previously, we

granted a certificate of appealability on the two ineffective-

assistance claims discussed above. We also appointed counsel to

represent Lahens in this appeal.

II. Standard of Review

We review the district court’s denial of a § 2254 habeas

petition de novo. Ward v. Hall, 592 F.3d 1144, 1155 (11th Cir. 2010).

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996

(“AEDPA”), a federal court’s review of a final state habeas decision

is greatly circumscribed, and a federal habeas court cannot grant a

state petitioner habeas relief on any claim that was adjudicated on

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the merits in state court unless the state court’s adjudication of the

claim:

(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or

involved an unreasonable application of, clearly

established Federal law, as determined by the

Supreme Court of the United States; or

(2) resulted in a decision that 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)(1)–(2).

“‘[C]learly established Federal law’ . . . refers to the holdings,

as opposed to the dicta, of [the Supreme] Court’s decisions as of the

time of the relevant state-court decision.” Williams v. Taylor, 529

U.S. 362, 412 (2000). “[T]o be ‘contrary to’ clearly established

federal law, the state court must either (1) apply a rule that

contradicts the governing law set forth by Supreme Court case law,

or (2) reach a different result from the Supreme Court when faced

with materially indistinguishable facts.” Ward, 592 F.3d at 1155

(quotations omitted); see also Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 694 (2002).

An “unreasonable application” of federal law occurs “if the

state court correctly identifies the governing legal principle from

[the Supreme Court’s] decisions but unreasonably applies it to the

facts of the particular case.” Bell, 535 U.S. at 694. “To meet [the

unreasonable application] standard, a prisoner must show far more

than that the state court’s decision was merely wrong or even clear

error.” Shinn v. Kayer, 592 U.S. 111, 118 (2020) (quotations

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omitted). Rather, the state court’s application of federal law “must

be objectively unreasonable,” Renico v. Lett, 559 U.S. 766, 773 (2010)

(quotations omitted), meaning that “the state court’s decision is so

obviously wrong that its error lies beyond any possibility for

fairminded disagreement,” Shinn, 592 U.S. at 118 (quotations

omitted). In other words, where AEDPA deference applies, we are

precluded from granting federal habeas relief “so long as

fairminded jurists could disagree on the correctness of the state

court’s decision.” Pye v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 50 F.4th

1025, 1034 (11th Cir. 2022) (en banc) (quoting Harrington, 562 U.S.

at 101).

When as here, the last state court to decide the claim does

so without accompanying explanation, a “federal court should

‘look through’ the unexplained decision to the last related state-

court decision that does provide a relevant rationale.” Wilson v.

Sellers, 584 U.S. 122, 125 (2018). We then “presume that the

unexplained decision adopted the same reasoning.” Id.

Finally, under AEDPA “a determination of a factual issue

made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct,” and the

petitioner bears “the burden of rebutting the presumption of

correctness by clear and convincing evidence.” 28 U.S.C.

§ 2254(e)(1).

III. Discussion

Lahens argues that the state court unreasonably applied

federal law and made an unreasonable determination of the facts

in concluding that his trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to

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(1) introduce at trial a transcript of Lahens’s testimony from the

pre-trial evidentiary hearing, and (2) request a jury instruction on

the use of justifiable non-deadly force for the aggravated battery

with a firearm charge. 7 After reviewing the applicable law, we

address each argument in turn.

To make a successful claim of ineffective assistance of

counsel, a defendant must show both that (1) his counsel’s

performance was deficient; and (2) the deficient performance

prejudiced his defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687

(1984). Prejudice occurs when there is a “reasonable probability

that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the

proceeding would have been different.” Id. at 694. Failure to

establish either the deficient performance prong or the prejudice

prong is fatal and makes it unnecessary to consider the other. Id. at

697.

Importantly, “whether defense counsel’s performance fell

below Strickland’s standard” is not the question before a federal

habeas court reviewing a state court’s decision under § 2254.

Harrington, 562 U.S. at 101. Accordingly, where, as here, Ҥ 2254(d)

applies, the question is not whether counsel’s actions were

reasonable. The question is whether there is any reasonable argument

7 The State argues that Lahens’s claims are procedurally barred because they

are unexhausted. We need not reach this issue because the claims fail on the

merits. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(2) (“An application for a writ of habeas corpus

may be denied on the merits, notwithstanding the failure of the applicant to

exhaust the remedies available in the courts of the State.”).

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that counsel satisfied Strickland’s deferential standard.” Id. at 105

(emphasis added). With these principles in mind, we turn to

Lahens’s claims.

A. Ineffective Assistance Claim Based on the Failure to

Introduce the Pre-trial Testimony

Lahens argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing

to introduce Lahens’s pre-trial testimony from the evidentiary

hearing on the motion to dismiss the indictment. He maintains

that this testimony would have supported his theory of self-defense

for the aggravated battery charge because he testified at the pre-

trial hearing that Dorelie grabbed him and pushed him while

Rodriguez had a gun pointed at Lahens’s brother’s head. He

maintains that, had the jury heard about Dorelie’s aggressive

behavior, it would have found him not guilty of aggravated

battery.

The state court explained that Lahens’s trial counsel, Cairns,

had testified that he tried to have the pre-trial testimony admitted,

but the trial court had denied his request. The court noted that

Cairns also testified that “there was . . . a strategic reason not to

introduce the hearing testimony” due to inconsistencies in the

testimony. Thus, the state court concluded that there was “no

deficient performance or prejudice arising out of [counsel’s] failure

to get the transcript into evidence.”

The state court’s decision was not an unreasonable

application of Strickland nor was it based on an unreasonable

determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the

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state court proceeding. Although Lahens is correct that nothing in

the transcript establishes that Cairns attempted to enter Lahens’s

pre-trial testimony into evidence, Cairns clarified in his testimony

that he thought he had tried to admit the testimony during a bench

conference, but he could not recall for sure whether he had actually

done so. Counsel clarified that there were things in Lahens’s

testimony from the pre-trial evidentiary hearing that Cairns

“discussed with Mr. Lahens that [Cairns] thought [he] didn’t really

want the jury to have to consider or decide.” He further explained

that there “was also a strategic reason not to [bring in the

transcript] because there [were] some inconsistencies with what

went on between [Lahens’s] testimony and his brother’s.” 8 The

state court highlighted Cairns’s testimony about the reasons not to

introduce the statement in denying Lahens’s claim. It is well-

established that “strategic choices made after thorough

investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are

virtually unchallengeable.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690; see also

Dingle v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 480 F.3d 1092, 1099 (11th Cir. 2007)

(explaining that counsel’s strategic decision “will be held to have

been ineffective assistance only if it was so patently unreasonable

8 The record confirms that there were inconsistencies between Lahens’s pre-

trial testimony and the other evidence. For instance, Lahens testified at the

pre-trial hearing that he heard Rodriguez threaten to shoot Berlin, but Berlin

testified that Rodriguez never said anything to him. And in his statement to

police, Lahens indicated Dorelie was a good Samaritan trying to break up the

fight when he hit him, but then at the pre-trial hearing, he said the opposite,

indicating Dorelie “came at [him] very aggressively” and grabbed him and

would not let go.

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that no competent attorney would have chosen it” (quotations

omitted)). Accordingly, based on Cairns’s testimony, we conclude

that the state court’s decision that Cairns’s performance was not

deficient was neither an unreasonable application of clearly

established federal law nor based on an unreasonable

determination of the facts presented in the state court proceeding.

Therefore, Lahens is not entitled to relief on this claim.

B. Ineffective assistance claim based on the jury

instruction

Lahens argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing

to request a jury instruction on the justifiable use of non-deadly

force, which left the jury no choice but to convict him of the

aggravated battery of Dorelie. He asserts that counsel’s

explanations for why he did not request an instruction were

contradictory, and he maintains that, if the jury had received the

non-deadly force instruction, there is a reasonable probability that

he would not have been convicted of aggravated battery.

The state court credited Cairns’s testimony that he had

considered a non-deadly force instruction, 9 but he did not request

one because he did not want to lose credibility with the jury given

Lahens’s statement to police that Dorelie was acting as a good

Samaritan when Lahens hit him. Thus, the state court concluded

9 In Florida, a defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed on the law

applicable to his theory of defense when there is any evidence, no matter how

weak, introduced at trial supporting the defense theory. Larsen v. Florida, 82

So. 3d 971, 974 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011).

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22-13228 Opinion of the Court 21

that Cairns was not deficient because his decision was reasonable

under the circumstances. Although Lahens quarrels with Cairns’s

characterization of the evidence and maintains that Dorelie

grabbed him aggressively, as Cairns testified, this information did

not come out during the trial because Lahens did not testify and

Cairns could not get Dorelie to make such an admission on cross-

examination.

Alternatively, Lahens argues that even without evidence

that Dorelie grabbed him aggressively, Cairns still could have

requested the non-deadly force instruction based on Lahens’s

statement to police that he hit Dorelie after “he jumped in

[Lahens’s] face,” and testimony from Andrews that Lahens was

walking towards his vehicle when Dorelie followed him.

However, as discussed above, under AEDPA, “the question is not

whether counsel’s actions were reasonable. The question is

whether there is any reasonable argument that counsel satisfied

Strickland’s deferential standard.” Harrington, 562 U.S. at 105.

Based on Cairns’s testimony that he made a strategic decision not

to request a non-deadly force instruction so as not to lose credibility

with the jury in light of the evidence presented at trial that Dorelie

was acting as a good Samaritan, the state court’s decision that

Cairns was not deficient was not an objectively unreasonable

application of Strickland. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690 (“[S]trategic

choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant

to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable.”); see also Dingle,

480 F.3d at 1099 (explaining that counsel’s strategic decision “will

be held to have been ineffective assistance only if it was so patently

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22 Opinion of the Court 22-13228

unreasonable that no competent attorney would have chosen it”

(quotations omitted)). Nor was it based on an unreasonable

determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the

state court proceeding.

Moreover, although the state court did not reach the

prejudice prong,10 we note that, in light of the evidence presented

at trial, even if the jury had received a non-deadly force instruction,

Lahens has not established prejudice. Under Florida law,

“[n]on-deadly force may be used when and to the extent that a

person reasonably believes that the use of force is necessary to

defend one’s self or another against the imminent use of unlawful

force.” Cruz v. State, 971 So. 2d 178, 182 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007).

Multiple witnesses testified consistently that Dorelie did not act

aggressively toward Lahens and was simply trying to deescalate the

situation when Lahens hit him. And although Lahens stated in his

statement to police that Dorelie “jumped in [Lahens’s] face and

that’s when he hit him,” Lahens also confirmed in that statement

that Dorelie was acting as a good Samaritan trying to break up the

fight. Based on the evidence presented at trial, even if the jury had

received the justifiable use of non-deadly force instruction, Lahens

has not shown that there is a reasonable probability that the jury

would have concluded that he reasonably believed that the use of

force was necessary to defend himself or anyone else against “the

10 Where the state court does not reach one of Strickland’s elements,

§ 2254(d)’s framework does not apply, and we examine that element de novo.

See Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374, 390 (2005).

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22-13228 Opinion of the Court 23

imminent use of unlawful force” by Dorelie. See Harrington, 562

U.S. at 112 (“The likelihood of a different result must be substantial,

not just conceivable.”). Therefore, Lahens is not entitled to relief

on this claim.

IV. Conclusion

For the above reasons, we affirm.

AFFIRMED.