Joseph Buffalo v. Franklin Sunn, Director D.S.S.H.

Buffalo was convicted of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in Hawaii state court. Following an unsuccessful direct appeal and state collateral attack, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. The district court conditionally granted the writ. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . Because we conclude that the district court should have held an evidentiary hearing in order to resolve a factual dispute over whether Buffalo had demonstrated “cause” under Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72 , 97 S.Ct. 2497 , 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977) (Sykes), for failing to appeal his collateral attack to the Hawaii Supreme Court, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing.

I

On September 25, 1981, a jury convicted Buffalo of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault. Buffalo appealed his conviction to the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and alleged that his counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance, that the admission of certain hearsay testimony deprived him of his due process right to a fair trial, and that certain hearsay statements were inadmissible under Hawaii’s rules of…