Opinion ID: 714016
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Factfinding.

Text: 17 Justice Braatz found that there is no doubt that Mr. Tirelli was sleeping during portions of the trial, but Justice Braatz was unable ... to determine how long [Tirelli] slept, or what portions of the testimony he missed, if any. The respondent argues that [t]he hearing court's findings on this issue should be presumed, by this Court, to be correct. In fact, however, Justice Braatz did not make specific findings on any issue other than Tippins' failure to show prejudice. What is significant is that Justice Braatz considered and relied on the testimony of all the witnesses who testified at the hearing, and discredited the testimony of none. Since the testimony of each witness paints a similar picture of what went on at trial, there is no dispute about the facts. Moreover, the district court received the hearing transcript into evidence without objection and without a request by either party for the opportunity to adduce additional evidence. The presumption of correctness afforded by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) therefore did not inhibit Judge Keenan's ability to make his own findings based on the transcript of the proceedings conducted by Justice Braatz. 18