Court Opinion

ID: 9473449
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:30:16.190696+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:32.318069
License: Public Domain

ALARCON: Circuit Judge, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
The majority has concluded that a federal court may deny a state prisoner’s peti*1356tion for a writ of habeas corpus alleging a denial of his federal constitutional right to a fair trial because of prejudicial pretrial newspaper articles and radio and television newscasts without making an independent examination of the exhibits introduced in the state court to establish the prejudicial nature of the media coverage. In so doing, the majority rejects the law of this circuit most recently expressed in Harris v. Pulley, 692 F.2d 1189 (9th Cir.1982), rev’d on other grounds, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 871, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984) and concludes that it is no longer compelled to follow the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Jennings v. Ragan, 358 U.S. 276, 79 S.Ct. 321, 3 L.Ed.2d 296 (1959) (per curiam) and Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963).
The majority tells us it is free to disregard these decisions, in spite of the fact that they were decided on due process and fair trial grounds, because Congress has amended the Habeas Corpus Statute. I fail to see how Congress can repeal the Fifth and Sixth Amendments by simply amending a federal statute.
The majority then proceeds to determine the merits of Austad’s claim that he was denied a fair trial because of prejudicial pretrial publicity without making an independent examination of the exhibits before the state court. The majority concludes that “a change of venue was not neces-ary to provide Austad with a fair trial.” (Majority Opinion, page 1354). Having so concluded, the majority inconsistently qualifies its holding affirming the judgment by directing the district court to permit the filing of a new writ of habeas corpus setting forth the same issue (denial of a fair trial because of adverse publicity), notwithstanding the fact that this court has decided the merits of Austad’s claim — i.e. a change of venue was not necessary for a fair trial — and determined the law of the case. The majority has failed to give any guidance to the district court regarding its duties should a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus be filed containing a request for the production of the state court exhibits. If, after examination, the district court determines that these exhibits show that the pretrial publicity was prejudicial, must the district court proceed to consider the responses of the prospective jurors to the voir dire examination, or is it precluded from doing so by the law of the case?
I would reverse the judgment. The Supreme Court has attempted to make clear that determination of a federal constitutional claim by a state prisoner cannot be made by a reviewing court without an independent examination of the relevant exhibits introduced at the state court proceedings.
In the following analysis, I have set forth the applicable law concerning the responsibility of the state trial court, and each federal court, when faced with a claim that a change of venue was compelled because of prejudicial pretrial publicity.
I
TRIAL COURT’S DUTY WHEN PREJUDICIAL PUBLICITY IS ALLEGED
Where a defendant claims that he will be denied a fair trial because of prejudicial pretrial publicity, the trial court must examine the media accounts to determine if the publicity is prejudicial. See United States v. Bailleaux, 685 F.2d 1105, 1108-09 (9th Cir.1982); United States v. Abascal, 564 F.2d 821, 833 (9th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 953, 98 S.Ct. 1583, 55 L.Ed.2d 804 (1978). If the publicity is not prejudicial, the inquiry stops. See, e.g., Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 302-03, 97 S.Ct. 2290, 2302-03, 53 L.Ed.2d 344 (1977) (Court determined that publicity was not prejudicial).
If the publicity is prejudicial, the trial court's duties are governed by Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966). In Sheppard, supra, the Court concluded, after independently examining the news accounts, that the trial court’s failure to take precautions against pretrial publicity deprived the petitioner of a fair trial. Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 355, 86 *1357S.Ct. at 1518. Sheppard, imposed an obligation on trial courts to ensure that prejudicial publicity does not deprive the accused of an impartial jury. Id. at 362, 86 S.Ct. at 1522. Similarly, this court requires a trial judge to exercise great care in all aspects of the case relating to publicity that might tend to defeat or impair the accused’s right to a fair trial. See United States v. Giese, 597 F.2d 1170, 1183 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 979, 100 S.Ct. 480, 62 L.Ed.2d 405 (1979); United States v. Abascal, 564 F.2d 821, 833 (9th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 953, 98 S.Ct. 1583, 55 L.Ed.2d 804 (1978); Farr v. Pitchess, 522 F.2d 464, 468 (9th Cir.1975). See also CBS v. United States Dist. Ct. For C.D. of California, 729 F.2d 1174, 1180 (9th Cir.1983) (holding that the trial court must examine the media accounts and analyze its impact when considering a prior restraint). Where there is a reasonable likelihood that prejudicial publicity prior to trial will prevent a fair trial, the trial judge must either: continue the case until the publicity abates; transfer the case to another county less permeated with publicity; or order sequestration of the jury. Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 363, 86 S.Ct. at 1522. The trial court must also conduct or allow a voir dire examination of potential jurors concerning their exposure to prejudicial publicity. See id. at 357, 86 S.Ct. at 1519.'
The Supreme Court has also cautioned that juror statements of impartiality during the voir dire examination are not necessarily dispositive. Id. at 351, 86 S.Ct. at 1516. When jurors are exposed to prejudicial publicity, the trial court has a duty to probe beyond the jurors’ assurances that they will not be influenced by the media accounts. See id.; Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 312-13, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 1172-73, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250 (1959) (per curiam). The voir dire examination, therefore, must not simply call for the jurors’ subjective assessment of their own impartiality, and it must not be so general that it fails to probe the possibility of prejudice. United States v. Giese, 597 F.2d 1170, 1183 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 979, 100 S.Ct. 480, 62 L.Ed.2d 405 (1979); United States v. Polizzi, 500 F.2d 856, 879 (9th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1120, 95 S.Ct. 802, 42 L.Ed.2d 820 (1975); Silverthorne v. United States, 400 F.2d 627, 638 (9th Cir.1968).
II
DUTY OF REVIEWING COURT WHEN PREJUDICIAL PRETRIAL PUBLICITY IS ALLEGED
In reviewing a challenge to the fairness of a trial on the grounds of prejudicial publicity, the reviewing court must first independently examine the record to determine if the publicity was prejudicial. See Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 362, 86 S.Ct. at 1522. If the media reports were not prejudicial, then the claim must fail. See Dobbert, 432 U.S. at 302-03, 97 S.Ct. at 2302-03; Evans v. State of Arizona, 410 F.2d 1122, 1124 (9th Cir.1969). Those courts that have reviewed claims of the denial of a fair trial due to pretrial publicity have independently examined the exhibits containing news reports about the case for volume, content, and timing to determine if it was prejudicial. See Patton v. Yount, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 2885, 2889-90, 81 L.Ed.2d 847 (1984); Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 802-03, 95. S.Ct. 2031, 2037-38, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975); Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 536, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 1629, 14 L.Ed.2d 543 (1965); Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 724-25, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 1418-19, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963); Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 725, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1644, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961); Bashor v. Risley, 730 F.2d 1228, 1234-35 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 137, 83 L.Ed.2d 77 (1984); United States v. McDonald, 576 F.2d 1350, 1354 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 927, 99 S.Ct. 312, 58 L.Ed.2d 320 (1978); United States v. Green, 554 F.2d 372, 376 (9th Cir.1977); United States v. Robinson, 546 F.2d 309, 311-12 (9th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 918, 97 S.Ct. 1333, 51 L.Ed.2d 597 (1977). See also Martin v. Warden, Huntingdon State Corr. Inst., 653 F.2d 799, 802-05 (3d Cir.1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1151, 102 S.Ct. 1019, 71 *1358L.Ed.2d 306 (1982); United States v. Cha-pin, 515 F.2d 1274, 1288 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1015, 96 S.Ct. 449, 46 L.Ed.2d 387 (1975).
If the publicity was prejudicial, the reviewing court must then examine the transcripts of the voir dire examination to make an independent determination that the voir dire was adequate to assure an impartial jury. See Patton v. Yount, 104 S.Ct. at 2889-90; Murphy, 421 U.S. at 800-02, 95 S.Ct. at 2036-37; Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 357, 86 S.Ct. at 1519; Irvin, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1642; Bashor, 730 F.2d at 1234; McDonald, 576 F.2d at 1354-55. Moreover, the reviewing court cannot accept the jurors’ assurances of impartiality as conclusive. See Murphy, 421 U.S. at 800-02, 95 S.Ct. at 2036-37 (Juror’s assurances that he can lay aside his opinion and render a verdict based on evidence presented in court cannot be dispositive of the accused’s rights; juror indicia of reliability may be disregarded where the atmosphere is sufficiently inflammatory); Irvin, 366 U.S. at 725-28, 81 S.Ct. at 1644-46 (Court looked beyond voir dire statements in assessing impartiality in light of pressures on jurors to declare impartiality). Reviewing courts thus “have the duty to make an independent evaluation of the circumstances [in assessing juror impartiality].” Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 362, 86 S.Ct. at 1522. See also, Polizzi, 500 F.2d at 879; Silverthorne, 400 F.2d at 637-38.
The majority purports to find support for its views in Patton v. Yount, 104 S.Ct. at 2885 et seq. This reliance is puzzling because in Patton v. Yount, the Supreme Court noted that the Court of Appeals had “independently examined the nature of the publicity surrounding the second trial.” Id. 104 S.Ct. at 2887. In the matter before us, the district court and the majority have failed to make such an examination. In concluding that manifest error had not been committed by the trial court, the Supreme Court, in Patton v. Yount, independently examined the exhibits offered by the petitioner in support of his claim of a denial of a fair trial resulting from prejudicial publicity. After pointing out that four years elapsed between the first and second trial and therefore “prejudicial publicity was greatly diminished and community sentiment had softened,” id. 104 S.Ct. at 2889, the Court stated:
The record reveals that in the year and a half from the reversal of the first conviction to the start of the second voir dire each of the two Clearfield County daily newspapers published an average of less than one article a month. App. 642a-657a; Ex. Pl-V to Pl-kk, P-2. More importantly, many of these were extremely brief announcements of the trial dates and scheduling such as are common in rural newspapers. Eg., Ex. Pl-ff, Pl-ii, Pl-jj.

Id.

This independent scrutiny of the exhibits led the Supreme Court to conclude that the publicity was not “inflammatory” and did not create a “wave of public passion” as did the media accounts in Irvin v. Dowd. Id. 104 S.Ct. at 2889. It was only after this independent examination of the exhibits that the Court in Patton v. Yount proceeded to consider the impact of the publicity as revealed by the voir dire testimony of the prospective jurors. Id. 104 S.Ct. at 2889-91. Thus, the majority, while purporting to rely on Patton v. Yount, has ignored the process followed by the Supreme Court in applying the presumption of correctness due to a state court’s factual findings pursuant to section 2254(d). In short, the majority has concluded that the district court’s factual finding that the publicity was not prejudicial is presumed correct, notwithstanding the fact that the district court did not review the exhibits offered to demonstrate prejudice.
The majority, in its discussion of the existing law, makes the following statement:
No decision of the United States Supreme Court and only Harris v. Pulley in this circuit specifically address the issue before us. Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293 [83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770] (1963), a leading case on the subject, *1359holds that a district court has the power to compel production of the state court record and imposes an obligation to scrutinize it once it is received, but does not impose a duty to request the record sua sponte. Id. at 316 [83 S.Ct. at 758].
(Majority opinion, page 1352) (emphasis added).
The quoted language is troublesome in three respects. First, while we are told that Townsend v. Sain is “a leading case on the subject,” we are given no clue as to the subject the majority has in mind. Nowhere in Townsend v. Sain does the Supreme Court mention the subject of the production of court exhibits.
Second, the actual holding in Townsend v. Sain is set forth on page 312, 83 S.Ct. at 756 in the following language:
Where the facts are in dispute, the federal court, in habeas corpus must hold an evidentiary hearing if the habeas applicant did not receive a full and fair evi-dentiary hearing in a state court, either at the time of trial or in a collateral proceeding.
In the matter before us, no issue has been raised concerning the adequacy of the hearing in the state court. Austad claims, instead, that the federal district court violated his right to due process because of its failure to review the state court exhibits.
Third, while it is quite true that the Supreme Court did not hold that a federal court must request the state court record sua sponte, in fairness, it should also be noted that this issue was no longer before the Supreme Court. In an earlier ruling vacating the judgment of the Seventh Circuit dismissing Townsend’s appeal, the Court ordered the district court to determine “whether, in the light of the state-court record, a plenary hearing was required.” Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. at 297, 83 S.Ct. at 749 (emphasis added). In the prior procedure, the federal district court had denied Townsend’s writ of habe-as corpus solely on the pleadings without examining the state court record. That is precisely what occurred in the matter before this court. The district court denied Austad’s claim without reviewing the state court exhibits. We are required to do precisely what the Supreme Court did in considering the claim presented in Townsend. We should vacate the judgment and remand for a decision as to whether, in light of the state court exhibits, Austad’s federal constitutional rights were violated. Only after such review by the district court can we proceed to determine the validity of Austad’s claim.
In determining whether there had been a full and fair evidentiary hearing on Townsend’s federal constitutional claim, the Supreme Court reviewed and summarized evidence adduced at the state trial court hearing on the motion to suppress. Id. at 293-304, 83 S.Ct. at 745-753. The Court in Townsend described the duty of federal courts reviewing a state prisoner’s claim of federal constitutional violation as follows:
Where the fundamental liberties of the person are claimed to have been infringed, we carefully scrutinize the state court record. (Citations omitted). The duty of the district court is no less exacting.
Id. at 316, 83 S.Ct. at 759. No such exacting scrutiny was undertaken by this court or the district court in this matter.
While it is true, as stated by the majority, that the Supreme Court did “not impose a duty to request the record sua sponte ” upon a federal district court, it is also accurate to state that the Court did not order Townsend to produce the state record upon remand. (Majority Opinion, page 1352).
The lesson of Townsend v. Sain is simple and direct: a federal district court cannot determine whether an evidentiary hearing is required on a petitioner’s federal constitutional claim without reviewing the state court record. If a federal district court dismisses a federal constitutional claim without reviewing such record because it was not produced, the Supreme Court will remand with directions that the federal district court examine the state court record. The majority, in clear violation of Townsend v. Sain, has failed to *1360reverse and remand for a review of the state court exhibits.
In its discussion of Jennings v. Ragen, 358 U.S. 276, 79 S.Ct. 321, 3 L.Ed.2d 296 (1959), the majority, after noting that Jennings was a “four-paragraph decision,” states that “Jennings sheds no direct light on the issue before us.” (Majority Opinion, page 1352).
Jennings cannot be dismissed so cavalierly. It is certainly clear that in Jennings, the petitioner failed to produce the record of the state court proceedings. Id. at 277, 79 S.Ct. at 321. The federal district court dismissed on the pleadings, notwithstanding Jennings’ allegations that the state introduced a confession “coerced by physical mistreatment by police officers.” Id. at 276, 79 S.Ct. at 321. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment based on the following rationale:
It appears from the record before us that the District Court dismissed petitioner’s application without making any examination of the record of proceedings in the state courts, and instead simply relied on the facts and conclusions stated in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Illinois. We think that the District Court erred in dismissing this petition without first satisfying itself, by an appropriate examination of the state court record, that this was a proper case for the dismissal of petitioner’s application with a hearing, in accordance with the principles set forth in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 463-465, 506 [73 S.Ct. 397, 410-412, 445, 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953)]. See also Rogers v. Richmond, 357 U.S. 220 [78 S.Ct. 1365, 2 L.Ed.2d 1361 (1958)]. It follows that the judgment of the Court of Appeals must be vacated and the case remanded to the District Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Id. at 277, 79 S.Ct. at 322.
The lesson of Jennings v. Ragen is also uncomplicated and straightforward: a federal district court cannot dismiss a claim of federal constitutional violation “without first satisfying itself” that no error occurred by examining the state court record. Id. at 277, 79 S.Ct. at 322. In Jennings, the Supreme Court relied upon Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953) in determining that the district court erred in failing to make an appropriate examination of the state court record. In Brown v. Allen, the court affirmed the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition after noting: “[s]ince the complete record was before the District Court, there was no need for rehearing or taking of further evidence.” Id. at 465, 73 S.Ct. at 411. Here, the complete record was not before the district court. Thus, there is a need to remand for an appropriate examination of the state court exhibits so that the district court may, in the first instance, satisfy itself that the publicity was not prejudicial. Until the Supreme Court disavows its holdings in Townsend v. Sain and Jennings v. Ragen, this court is compelled to vacate the judgment in this matter, and remand with directions to the district court to make an appropriate examination of the state court exhibits.
I would hold that the district court failed to fulfill its constitutional duty, as spelled out clearly in Patton v. Yount, in assessing Austad’s claim of the denial of a fair trial due to publicity. The district court failed to examine the exhibits and then independently assess the prejudicial impact of the media coverage on the entire jury panel as well as those selected to serve. See Irvin, 366 U.S. at 725, 81 S.Ct. at 1644; Sheppard, 384 U.S. at 362, 86 S.Ct. at 1522. Moreover, in examining the voir dire transcripts, the district court improperly relied on the juror’s assurances without independently assessing their impartiality in light of the totality of the circumstances. See Murphy, 421 U.S. at 800-02, 95 S.Ct. at 2036-37; Irvin, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1642. The majority has repeated these errors. It has not examined the state court exhibits because they were not a part of the record before the district court, and it has relied on the juror’s assurances in reaching the merits of Austad’s claim that he was denied a fair trial. The process followed by the district court and the ma*1361jority has deprived Austad of a fair determination of his claim that he was prejudiced by pretrial publicity, as required by Irvin v. Dowd and Patton v. Yount.

Ill

28 U.S.C. § 2254
The majority attempts to justify the district court’s failure to review the state court exhibits by placing the responsibility on the petitioner, without discussing the requirement suggested by the Supreme Court’s review of similar claims in Irvin and Patton, that a reviewing court examine the nature of the alleged prejudicial publicity and thereafter evaluate the jurors’ declarations of impartiality. It reaches this surprising result by construing 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e) as requiring that the petitioner produce state court exhibits.
Section 2254(e) does not contain any reference to the production of exhibits in support of a state prisoner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Instead, the statute provides that “the applicant, if able, shall produce that part of the record pertinent to a determination of the sufficiency of the evidence to support such determination.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e) (emphasis added). Unfortunately, the majority fails to discuss the meaning of the words “if able” in the quoted passage from section 2254(e). These words have tremendous significance to the present ease. While a non-indigent applicant can purchase a reporter’s transcript of the trial proceedings, no state prisoner, rich or poor, or his advocate, is able to produce state court exhibits. Court exhibits are held in the custody of state officials. A court order is required for their production. In apparent recognition of this fact— i.e. that only the state can produce an exhibit — Congress included the following language in section 2254(e):
If the applicant, because of indigency, or other reason is unable to produce such part of the record, then the State shall produce such part of the record, and the Federal Court shall direct the state to do so by order directed to an appropriate State official.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(e).
Because the state court exhibits are not for sale, a “reason” other than indigency disables all applicants from producing relevant exhibits in every habeas matter under section 2254. As discussed above, the Supreme Court has made it clear that an examination of court exhibits is necessary where a claim is made that prejudicial publicity has resulted in the denial of a fair trial. Where a court exhibit is essential to the determination of a federal constitutional claim, the district court is required by section 2254(e) to issue an order directing the appropriate state court clerk to produce the exhibit because no applicant is able to do so, regardless of his economic means.
I would hold that section 2254(e) requires the district court to enter an order, on its own motion, directing the appropriate state court official to produce all exhibits offered to show that the pretrial publicity was prejudicial, where a claim is made that the applicant was denied a fair trial because of prejudicial publicity. The majority states that such a requirement would “saddle upon already overburdened district courts a record searching load of enormous dimension.” (Majority Opinion, page 1353). The factual or logical basis for this observation is unclear. The majority apparently had no trouble in identifying the essential exhibits as “92 newspaper clippings and tapes or transcripts of radio and television newscasts which were submitted in the state court proceedings and which constitute the pretrial publicity of which Austad complains.” (Majority Opinion, page 1351). As ably demonstrated by the majority, no record search of “enormous dimension” is required to issue an order that all exhibits containing newspaper reports and transcripts of radio and television newscasts be produced. The burden, if any, in identifying these exhibits, would fall on the state court clerk, and not the overburdened federal district court. The majority’s holding that an applicant claiming prejudice because of news accounts of a crime must, in *1362every case, file a pro forma motion requesting that an order be issued to direct the appropriate state clerk to produce the exhibits, because he is unable to do so, will create a far greater burden on our federal district court clerks and judges. The majority’s conclusion compels the filing of a useless motion that states the obvious, i.e. a state prisoner or his lawyer cannot produce an exhibit without a court order. The majority’s holding has not only exalted form over substance, but justifies the failure to address a fundamental constitutional question because the petitioner did not perform an idle act.
Where prejudicial publicity is claimed, an interpretation of section 2254(e) that requires the district court to order the production of the state court exhibits of news accounts of the crime harmonizes the statute with constitutional guarantees of due process and fair trials. See Irvin, 366 U.S. at 728, 81 S.Ct. at 1645. If a construction of a statute is fairly possible which would avoid creating a serious doubt of constitutionality, a court should adopt that construction. Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U.S. 682, 693, 99 S.Ct. 2545, 2553, 61 L.Ed.2d 176 (1979). The majority’s construction of section 2254(e) renders it unconstitutional. I would interpret section 2254(e) as requiring the district court to order state court exhibits sua sponte to uphold its constitutionality.
This interpretation, moreover, is completely consistent with the presumption of correctness applicable to state court findings under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). The presumption of correctness is inapplicable if the factual determination is not fairly supported by the record. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(8). A district court cannot determine whether a state court’s finding is supported by the record without actually reviewing relevant exhibits. The majority states that those courts which have imposed a duty on the district court to make an independent review of the state court’s record did not consider the “presumption of correctness.” (Majority Opinion, page 1350). This court, however, has imposed such a duty when reviewing cases filed under section 2254. See, e.g., Bashor, 730 F.2d at 1234 (“Our duty as a federal court sitting in habeas corpus is to make an independent review of the record____”); Pierre v. Thompson, 666 F.2d 424, 427 (9th Cir.1982) (in order to review the factual determination and apply the presumption, the district court must review the state court record or conduct an independent hearing); Rhinehart v. Gunn, 598 F.2d 557, 558 (9th Cir.1979) (per curiam) (“court cannot affirm a district court’s judgment dismissing the [habeas] petition unless the record on appeal shows that the district court reviewed all relevant parts of the state court record”). See also Turner v. Chavez, 586 F.2d 111, 112 (9th Cir.1978) (court specifically considered Rules governing 28 U.S.C. § 2254, but stated that the district court must determine the sufficiency of state court findings from an independent review of the record, or otherwise grant a .hearing and make its own findings on the merits).
The majority has given section 2254(e) an interpretation that imposes a technical and inflexible barrier to habeas corpus relief. This mechanical construction ignores the Supreme Court’s direction concerning the interpretation of statutes governing habeas corpus relief. In Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 68 S.Ct. 1049, 92 L.Ed. 1356 (1948), the Supreme Court reminded us as follows:
Moreover, the principle has developed that the writ of habeas corpus should be left sufficiently elastic so that a court may, in the exercise of its proper jurisdiction, deal effectively with any and all forms of illegal restraint. The rigidity which is appropriate to ordinary jurisdictional doctrines has not been applied to this writ.
Id. at 283, 68 S.Ct. at 1059. The majority’s interpretation of section 2254 will make it impossible for this court to determine for itself whether a petitioner’s federal constitutional rights have been violated where no request has been made for the production of exhibits introduced in the state court proceedings. The majority’s rigid con*1363struction of section 2254(e) finds no support in the decisions of our highest court. It precludes the type of review required by Patton v. Yount of a claim of the denial of a fair trial.
IV
DENIAL OF EQUAL PROTECTION TO THE POOR AND UNREPRESENTED
The rule created by the majority in this case — requiring a state prisoner to request an order from the district court directing the appropriate state court clerk to produce exhibits in support of his federal constitutional claim — will apply in the future solely to the poor and the unrepresented. Austad will escape this requirement (and avoid any claim of abuse of the writ) by filing a new petition for a writ of habeas corpus because his attorney “may have relied on [the law of the circuit] in failing to make production of the pretrial publicity exhibits.” (Majority Opinion, page 1355.)
After the effective date of the majority’s opinion, state prisoners represented by counsel who file for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to section 2254, without requesting an order from the district court compelling the appropriate court official to produce the exhibits of news accounts about the crime, will be able to file a second writ of habeas corpus claiming ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to follow the majority’s decision in this case. Thus, in this matter and in all future cases where the applicant for habeas corpus relief is represented by counsel who fails to request the district court to order production of pretrial publicity exhibits, an overburdened district court will be faced with two petitions for a writ of habeas corpus as a result of the majority’s interpretation of section 2254(e). An indigent state prisoner unrepresented by counsel who fails to request the court to order production of such news accounts of the crime will not receive the benefit of an independent examination of the exhibits containing publicity he claims was prejudicial, and will presumably be precluded from presenting his federal constitutional claim in a second writ on abuse of process grounds.
Thus, the result reached by the majority does not avoid work for district courts for those petitioners fortunate enough to have a lawyer, even if incompetent, and denies equal protection to unrepresented indigents. Congress cannot have intended such an unfair and unconstitutional consequence in amending section 2254.
CONCLUSION
I would reverse and remand this matter to the district court with directions to order the appropriate state court clerk to produce the exhibits containing newspaper accounts and transcripts of radio and television newscasts.