Opinion ID: 757247
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Robbins's Cross-Appeal

Text: 29 Robbins argues in his cross-appeal that the district court erred when it failed to consider and to rule upon his allegations of constitutional error in the state court trial. 30 Robbins brought eleven exhausted claims in the district court relating to his trial. Had Robbins not raised the Anders issue, the district court would have reached the merits of those claims. Had the district court ruled in Robbins's favor on them, a grant of habeas relief would have required either release or a new trial. The need for a new direct appeal--the remedy granted by the district court--would be obviated by this outcome. Robbins is entitled to have these foundational claims in his habeas petition considered first. 31 The Eleventh Circuit has, in the exercise of its supervisory authority, directed district courts to rule on all claims raised in a petition for habeas corpus, even if the petition is granted on one claim. Clisby v. Jones, 960 F.2d 925, 936 (11th Cir.1992) (en banc). This has the advantage of avoiding possible remands for consideration of remaining claims if the district court's decision on one claim is reversed. It has the disadvantage of requiring considerable extra work by the district court to decide many claims that may be completely unnecessary, because they will be mooted on appeal. 32 We have taken a different approach in our circuit. In Blazak v. Ricketts, 971 F.2d 1408, 1413 (9th Cir.1992) (per curiam), we declined to apply the Clisby approach to a capital case in which the district court granted the writ on one guilt phase issue without deciding all the remaining guilt phase issues or any of the penalty phase issues. We drew a distinction, however, between a case which granted a petition on a sentencing issue but left unresolved an issue affecting the validity of the conviction. Id. at 1413-14. We stated: 33 Moreover, unlike habeas grants exclusively on sentencing issues, the grant of a habeas petition because of the constitutional invalidity of a conviction raises concerns that a possibly innocent person has been unjustifiably incarcerated on death row for a number of years. Delaying retrial in such cases, while attorneys fight over a sentence that may no longer exist, risks the perpetuation of a monumental injustice, should retrial ultimately result in an acquittal. 34 Id. at 1414 n. 7. The same policy considerations are involved in this case. Granting the writ only for the ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal leaves the challenges underlying the conviction unresolved. Resolving other issues while leaving challenges to the underlying conviction unresolved potentially can cause grave injustice to defendants like Robbins who, despite alleging constitutional shortcomings in the trial process, must await resolution of a renewed appeal while potentially deserving a retrial and possibly an acquittal. 35 Penson v. Ohio, cited by California in opposition to Robbins's claim, is inapposite. Penson was an indigent defendant who was convicted of several serious felonies. His appointed appellate counsel filed a letter brief certifying his appeal to be meritless and asking to withdraw. In violation of Anders, the Ohio Court of Appeals allowed counsel to withdraw and conducted its own review of the record without the benefit of advocacy or briefing. Penson, 488 U.S. at 78, 109 S.Ct. 346. The Ohio court found several arguable claims, reversed one of his convictions, and then dismissed his appeal. Id. at 79, 109 S.Ct. 346. Penson petitioned for a writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court granted the petition and reversed. 36 Penson is unlike the case at bar because it involved the Supreme Court's review of the Ohio appellate court's dismissal of Penson's direct appeal. When the Court recognized that several arguably meritorious grounds for reversal existed, it remanded the matter to the Ohio appellate court for further proceedings. Id. It was, however, reviewing the direct appeal of a state court action, and not a habeas petition. In this circumstance, the Court explained that it would not sit in place of the Ohio Court of Appeals in the first instance to determine whether petitioner was prejudiced as to any appellate issue. Id. at 87 n. 9, 109 S.Ct. 346 (emphasis added). In this habeas proceeding the district court will be considering alleged constitutional errors in the defendant's trial that have been exhausted in the state court. Robbins is entitled to have those trial issues considered at this time just as any other habeas petitioner would. The fact that Robbins also presents an allegation of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel is a secondary issue that comes into play only if the district court denies relief for trial errors. That appeal would then be a renewal of the direct appeal as in Penson and could encompass any issues that could have been raised on direct appeal. 37 Because the district court should have addressed the claims of trial error first, it might not have needed to address Robbins's claims of appellate error as well. Because it did address the appellate claims, however, and because it decided those questions correctly, it is in the interest of judicial economy and efficiency to affirm them now. If trial error is found to have occurred and to require vacation of the conviction, the appellate errors will become immaterial. If no such trial errors are found, however, the district court's original order will again become applicable. Cf. Penson, 488 U.S. at 88-89, 109 S.Ct. 346 (the actual or constructive denial of assistance of counsel is presumed to result in prejudice); Lombard, 868 F.2d at 1487 (formal physical presence of appellate attorney is not appellate counsel; defendant constructively denied assistance of counsel where attorney filed document containing no arguments going to merits of appeal).