Fields

California state prisoner Stevie Lamar Fields appeals the district court’s summary judgment on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition with respect to his 1979 convictions for the robbery and murder of Rosemary Cobbs; the robbery of Clarence Gessendaner; the kidnaping for robbery, robbery, rape, forced oral copulation, and assault with a deadly weapon on Gwendolyn Barnett; the kidnaping for robbery and forced oral copulation of Cynthia Smith; and the kidnaping, robbery, rape, and forced oral copulation of Colleen Coates. However, the district court granted Fields’s cross-motion for summary judgment on the penalty phase, ordering that the sentence of death be vacated and set aside unless Fields is given a new trial because of the jury’s consideration of extraneous evidence. The state cross-appeals this ruling.

We agree with the district court on all of the claims having to do with Fields’s conviction except for his claim of juror bias. As to it, we conclude that an evidentiary hearing is needed. Given this disposition, we do not reach any of the penalty phase issues.

I

Fields was paroled on September 13, 1978, after serving a sentence for the voluntary manslaughter of Albert A.,…

concurring.

I agree with most of Judge Rymer’s thorough and thoughtful opinion. On the issue of possible juror bias, I agree that the declaration of Diane Hilliard, which says a lot about her but very little about Mr. Hilliard, the juror, nevertheless warrants further investigation by way of an evidentiary hearing.

My one point of disagreement concerns the majority’s treatment of Mr. Hilliard’s statements during voir dire. The majority’s decision to remand the case for an evidentiary hearing on actual or implied bias is based on a faulty premise — that the court asked Hilliard a specific question that he answered in a “misleading” or less than “completely forthcoming” manner. The fact is that the court did not ask Hilliard whether any family members or friends had ever been the victim of a crime. 1 Hilliard volunteered the information of his own accord. Far from being less than forthcoming, Hilliard was the just opposite.

Because the question about family-members-as-victims was never asked, it is puzzling how Hilliard’s voluntary disclosure of the attack on his wife can be characterized as anything but remarkably candid. But even if Hilliard had been asked, “Have any members of…