Miles

Following a remand from this court, California state prisoner Jimmy Lee Miles appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for an immediate order granting habeas relief. We affirm.

I

In Miles’ previous appeal, a different panel of this court reversed the district court’s denial of habeas relief, holding that the state court had violated due process by failing to conduct a competency hearing before it ac *1352 cepted Miles’ pleas of guilty to state kidnapping and robbery charges. Miles v. Stainer, 108 F.3d 1109, 1113 (9th Cir.1997). The panel remanded the action to the district court “with instructions to grant the writ [of habeas corpus] unless the state trial court conducts a hearing within 60 days to determine whether Miles was competent at the time he pled guilty to the charges against him.” Id. at 1114 .

The parties agree that the state court competency hearing commenced no later than June 13, 1997. 1 Miles contends, however, that the hearing had to commence within sixty days of March 11, 1997, the filing date of the previous panel’s opinion, and that the district court erred when it failed to order his release after sixty days had elapsed without a hearing. Appellees…