Opinion ID: 202832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the habeas record

Text: As a prelude to our analysis of the petitioner's claims, we deem it prudent to say something about the factual record that underpins our review. Although a magistrate judge recommended the opposite course of action, the district court granted a full-scale evidentiary hearing. That hearing had no apparent limits. It lasted nearly twice as long as the pertinent state court evidentiary hearing held seven years earlier, covered the same factual ground, and involved much of the same evidence. Despite this similitude, the district court evaluated the evidence somewhat differently than had the state court motions justice. It took a more flattering view of the petitioner's credibility and made several factual findings that contradicted those of the state court motions justice. The district court justified these contrary findings on the ground that, in the course of the federal evidentiary hearing, its view of the underlying facts had been proven by clear and convincing evidence  a standard dictated by the AEDPA. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). [4] The Commonwealth asseverates that the district court erred in granting a full-scale evidentiary hearing and beseeches us to disregard its factual findings. This is more than empty rhetoric: unless a state prisoner meets certain stringent requirements, the AEDPA prohibits a federal court from granting an evidentiary hearing when the applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings. Id. § 2254(e)(2). Seizing upon this prohibition, the Commonwealth argues that the petitioner, in the state courts, failed to develop the factual record needed to underbrace her habeas claims. In this vein, the Commonwealth notes that, at the state court evidentiary hearing, the petitioner did not call the lawyers who represented her at trial [5] and elected to submit affidavits in lieu of much of the live testimony that she presented at the federal evidentiary hearing. The petitioner rejoins on several fronts. First, she argues that she did not fail to develop the factual basis for her claims because the key facts  those pertaining to the abuse and her consequent inability to disclose that abuse to her trial counsel  were presented to the state court (albeit in lesser detail). Thus, a federal evidentiary hearing was not statutorily prohibited. Second, she emphasizes that, in interpreting section 2254(e)(2), the Supreme Court has equated the failure to develop language with a lack of diligence, or some greater fault, attributable to the prisoner or prisoner's counsel. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 420, 432, 120 S.Ct. 1479, 146 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Such diligence embodies, at a minimum, seek[ing] an evidentiary hearing in state court in the manner prescribed by state law. Id. at 437, 120 S.Ct. 1479. Because she sought and received an evidentiary hearing in the state court, the petitioner maintains that she satisfied the diligence standard. Third, the petitioner asserts that the presentation of additional evidence in the federal court is unimpugnable because, under prevailing jurisprudence, she had the right to augment the record on habeas review. See 1 Randy Hertz & James S. Liebman, Federal Habeas Corpus Practice and Procedure § 20.2b, at 906 n. 21 (5th ed.2005). And, finally, the petitioner argues that the district court was required to grant her request for an evidentiary hearing under Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 312-13, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963). As a matter of statutory law, we reject the Commonwealth's importunings. Here, the petitioner adduced extensive evidence in the state court. The exact manner in which she elected to make the point is less important than the fact that she did make the point; her proffer went directly to the merits of the claims that she later sought to pursue in the federal court proceedings. We conclude, therefore, that the district court was not statutorily prohibited from taking evidence on those claims. See Bryan v. Mullin, 335 F.3d 1207, 1215 (10th Cir.2003) (holding federal evidentiary hearing not statutorily barred when petitioner had sought to develop factual basis for claim in state court); Matheney v. Anderson, 253 F.3d 1025, 1039 (7th Cir. 2001) (similar). The fact that a federal evidentiary hearing was not statutorily barred does not mean that one was required. The decision to hold the hearing and the scale and scope of it are subject to review for abuse of discretion. See Crooker v. United States, 814 F.2d 75, 76 n. 1 (1st Cir.1987). In this instance, we find the scale and scope of the hearing problematic. Federal habeas is a collateral proceeding; particularly after AEDPA, it is not intended to provide a forum in which to retry state cases. See Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 693, 122 S.Ct. 1843, 152 L.Ed.2d 914 (2002). Consequently, in state prisoner habeas cases in which the applicant was afforded a full and fair hearing in state court, federal evidentiary hearings ought to be the exception, not the rule. See Townsend, 372 U.S. at 314, 83 S.Ct. 745; see also 1 Hertz & Liebman, supra § 20.1, at 887 n. 3 (noting that evidentiary hearings are allowed in less than 2% of all habeas filings). Even when such a hearing is thought desirable, restraint should be the watchword. Here, the state court had conducted a full and fair evidentiary hearing. Moreover, the federal court's chosen course of action led to extensive duplication of effort. When a federal court opts to hold an evidentiary hearing in a state habeas case, the prototypical purpose should be to fill a gap in the record or to supplement the record on a specific point. [6] See, e.g., López v. Massachusetts, 480 F.3d 591, 597 (1st Cir.2007) (approving grant of federal evidentiary hearing to supplement petitioner's Brady claim); Guidry v. Dretke, 397 F.3d 306, 324 (5th Cir.2005) (approving grant of federal evidentiary hearing when gaps, inconsistencies, and conflicting testimony were not explained, or even mentioned, in the [state] trial court's [opinion]); Cooper v. Picard, 428 F.2d 1351, 1354 (1st Cir.1970) (remanding for federal evidentiary hearing to develop facts anent claim of impermissibly suggestive identification procedures). Here, however, the district court forsook a circumscribed inquiry and, to all intents and purposes, fashioned a new and expanded record relative to the petitioner's state court motion for a new trial. Where, as here, a federal district court sitting in habeas jurisdiction essentially replicates the entirety of the relevant state court evidentiary record, it is on very shaky ground. See Thatsaphone v. Weber, 137 F.3d 1041, 1046 (8th Cir.1998) (suggesting that the district court went beyond its habeas authority when it heard testimony rehashing what occurred at the [state court proceeding] and then reweighed the state court's fact findings). Both Congress, in passing the AEDPA, and the Supreme Court, in construing it, have made pellucid that a federal habeas proceeding should not be used as an occasion for a retrial of the state court case. See H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 104-518, at 111 (1996), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1996, p. 944 (explaining that the AEDPA was enacted to curb the abuse of the statutory writ of habeas corpus and that it requires deference to the determinations of state courts that are neither `contrary to,' nor an `unreasonable application of,' clearly established federal law (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1))); see also Williams, 529 U.S. at 386, 120 S.Ct. 1495 (opinion of Stevens, J.) (discussing Congress's intent to prevent `retrials' on federal habeas). Although we think that this point is worth making and that federal habeas courts should proceed with great circumspection in shaping the contours of evidentiary hearings, we need not decide in this case whether authorizing and conducting a full-scale evidentiary hearing constituted an abuse of discretion. The federal hearing was at the petitioner's instance and for her benefit. Yet (as we explain below), even taking this additional evidence and the district court's factual findings fully into account, the petitioner's claims cannot succeed. Any error in holding a full-scale evidentiary hearing was, therefore, harmless. See, e.g., Gonzales v. Quarterman, 458 F.3d 384, 394 (5th Cir.2006); Greiner v. Wells, 417 F.3d 305, 318 n. 15 (2d Cir. 2005). Accordingly, we bypass the question of whether the district court abused its discretion and consider its factual findings.