In this federal habeas case, petitioner claimed his state court trial attorney had rendered ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the search of a motel room after defendant was arrested outside of it. The substantive search issue was whether the police officers’ collective knowledge could be imputed to the officer who actually demanded that the motel door be opened where the record was silent on the question whether that officer had been told information that was gathered by another officer. The appellate court concluded there was no definitive U.S. Supreme Court case on the issue. However, in light of conflicting federal lower court decisions, the decision denying relief was not an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as required by AEDPA.