Opinion ID: 4542458
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: PCLA Contract Claims (Claims 1, 2, 3, and 11)

Text: Petitioner’s remaining claims concern a contract between Los Angeles County and the PCLA. The contract provided that the PCLA would act as conflict counsel to represent indigent defendants when the public defender’s office legally could not. The initial contract ran from November 1, 1990, to October 31, 1991. Under the terms of that contract, the PCLA agreed to represent up to 500 defendants during the contract year in criminal actions ranging from infractions and 26 STATEN V. DAVIS misdemeanors to parole violations, guilty pleas, and felony trials, including capital cases. Los Angeles County paid a flat fee of $495,833 and agreed to pay an additional $991.67 for each defendant in excess of 500. Petitioner alleged that the trial court appointed his counsel, Tyre, under the terms of the initial contract. He further alleged that funding limitations contained in the terms of the contract were the reason why he did not have a second trial lawyer, which violated his constitutional rights. Petitioner’s claims concerning the contract fail for lack of evidence to support the underlying premise. There is no evidence in the record that Petitioner’s trial counsel was appointed to represent Petitioner pursuant to the contract. Nor is there evidence that Tyre was a member of the PCLA at the time the initial contract was signed or was a signatory to the original contract. The PCLA contract is not mentioned in the trial record. The California Supreme Court could reasonably have concluded that Petitioner’s allegations on all those points are unsupported and that his argument therefore collapses. Because of this lack of support, the California Supreme Court’s summary denial of Petitioner’s claims was reasonable. See id. at 98 (“Where a state court’s decision is unaccompanied by an explanation, the habeas petitioner’s burden still must be met by showing there was no reasonable basis for the state court to deny relief.”); see also Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, 474 (2007) (“[I]f the record refutes the applicant’s factual allegations or otherwise precludes habeas relief, a district court is not required to hold an evidentiary hearing.”); Hibbler v. Benedetti, 693 F.3d 1140, 1148 (9th Cir. 2012) (noting that, “if a district court would be within its discretion in denying an evidentiary hearing, a state STATEN V. DAVIS 27 court’s similar decision is probably not objectively unreasonable”). The state court had a copy of the original PCLA contract, which neither included a signature page for the contracting PCLA attorneys nor named them. But the original contract contained a brief description of the contractors, stating “that each of the attorneys has practiced law for more than ten (10) years.” During the first contract year—the year in which Tyre was appointed to represent Staten—that description did not apply to Tyre, who had been practicing for only eight years. The description did apply to Tyre during subsequent extensions for the second and third contract years, when the record shows that Tyre signed on as a member of the PCLA. Although Tyre submitted two declarations discussing the assistance that he received from investigators, difficulties he encountered getting funds approved for investigators and experts, and the application for second counsel, he did not mention the PCLA contract. Petitioner’s state and federal habeas counsel submitted declarations stating that they believed Tyre had been appointed to represent Petitioner under the PCLA contract, but they provided no reasons for that belief. To the contrary, each noted that Tyre expressly denied that he was appointed under the contract. Additionally, the record contains evidence tending to refute the assertion that the PCLA contract governed Tyre’s compensation or remuneration for expenses. For example, Tyre filed motions for funds under California Penal Code § 987.2, for expenses including stationery, travel, phone, photographic materials, medical records, video and audio materials, copying, and scanning costs. The trial court 28 STATEN V. DAVIS granted most of those motions in full or in part. But those types of expenses were included in the flat fee of the original PCLA contract, which stated that the contracting attorneys would provide “all legal defense services typically provided by the Office of the Public Defender, including . . . legal research, preparation of documents, secretarial and clerical support services, and travel.” Had Tyre been appointed under the PCLA contract, the trial court likely would have denied his requests. Even if we considered Petitioner’s additional declaration, which he did not submit to the California Supreme Court, nothing in that declaration suggests that Tyre was appointed under the contract. Petitioner averred that Tyre never told him that he was appointed under an agreement for legal services and never discussed the PCLA contract. Petitioner asserted that he first heard of the PCLA contract from his federal habeas attorneys. The declaration does not present any additional justification for concluding that Tyre accepted appointment under the PCLA contract. We therefore hold that the California Supreme Court’s summary denial on the merits of Claims 1, 2, 3, and 11 was not unreasonable. Richter, 562 U.S. at 97–98. AFFIRMED.