Hurles v. Ryan, No. 08-99032 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner Richard Hurles appealed the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus from his murder conviction and death sentence. He argued that the district court erred on four issues: judicial bias, ineffective assistance of his sentencing, ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and procedure. The unusual circumstances of this case revealed that the trial judge became involved as a party to this case as part of an interlocutory appeal. He was then denied standing to appear as an adversary, proceeded to preside over the murder trial and single-handedly determined Petitioner's death sentence. "These exceptional facts raise the probability of actual bias to an unconstitutional level." Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of Petitioner's judicial bias claim, and did not address the rest of Petitioner's other issues in light of the need for reversal on judicial bias. The Court remanded the case back to the trial court with instructions to grant the writ of habeas corpus.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 18, 2013.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 19, 2013.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 16, 2014.
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