Sims

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MICHAEL A. SIMS, 

Petitioner-Appellant, No. 03-17256 v. JAMES ROWLAND, Director of the  D.C. No.

CV-01-02355-MMC

California Department of

OPINION

Corrections, Respondent-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Maxine M. Chesney, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 10, 2005—San Francisco, California

Filed July 20, 2005

Before: J. Clifford Wallace, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, and Jay S. Bybee, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Bybee

8497 8500 SIMS v. ROWLAND

COUNSEL

Walter F. Brown, Jr., Ali Kazemi, Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, LLP, San Francisco, California, for petitioner- appellant Michael Sims.

Jeremy Friedlander, Office of the California Attorney Gen- eral, San Francisco, California, for respondent-appellee James Rowland, Director of the California Department of Correc- tions. SIMS v. ROWLAND 8501

OPINION

BYBEE, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether a state court’s failure to hold an evidentiary hearing sua sponte when presented with…