Riki Muhammad v. Charles Ryan

MEMORANDUM

Arizona state prisoner Riki Rashaad Muhammad appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition challenging his conviction for murder and child abuse. In a previous appeal, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court for an evidentiary hearing regarding ineffective assistance of counsel. Muhammad v. White, 372 Fed.Appx. 782 (9th Cir.2010). After conducting the hearing, the district court denied Muhammad’s habeas petition. We affirm.

The parties are familiar with the facts. We review the district court’s denial of Muhammad’s habeas petition de novo. Hibbler v. Benedetti, 693 F.3d 1140, 1145-46 (9th Cir.2012). Because our prior decision ordered an evidentiary hearing and therefore held that the Arizona post-conviction court violated 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(2), see Muhammad, 372 Fed.Appx. at 732; see also Earp v. Ornoshi, 431 F.3d 1158, 1166-67 (9th Cir.2005), AEDPA deference does not apply, see Hibbler, 693 F.3d at 1146 . “Factual findings and credibility determinations that were not made by the trial court but were made by the district court after an eviden-tiary hearing are reviewed for clear error.” Crittenden v. Ayers, 624 F.3d…