Opinion ID: 590329
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The District Court's Failure to Hold Evidentiary Hearings

Text: 7 In considering Hendricks' habeas petition, the district court held no evidentiary hearings. Hendricks had requested a hearing for most of his claims and now alleges that it was error for the court to refuse to hold any hearings. 8 A habeas petitioner is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a claim if (1) the petitioner's allegations, if proved, would entitle him to relief, and (2) the state court trier of fact has not, after a full and fair hearing, reliably found the relevant facts. Creech v. Arave, 947 F.2d 873, 887 (9th Cir.1991), cert granted --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 2963, 119 L.Ed.2d 585 (1992). The corollary to this is that no hearing is required if either the state court has reliably found the relevant facts, Tinsley v. Borg, 895 F.2d 520, 530 (9th Cir.1990), or there are no disputed facts and the claim presents a purely legal question. Harris v. Pulley, 885 F.2d 1354, 1378 (9th Cir.1988). 9 With the exception of Hendricks' ineffective assistance claim, the district court did not err in failing to hold evidentiary hearings. Other than that exception, all of Hendricks' claims involve purely legal disputes, or they concern facts which the state trial court has reliably found.