Ross

MEMORANDUM **

California state prisoner Charles Ross appeals the district court’s order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Ross challenged his 1993 jury trial conviction for murder, alleging juror bias. Although the jury foreperson’s actions do not permit us to imply bias, we remand to the district court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the foreperson was actually biased against Ross.

Because the parties are familiar with the factual background, we do not recite the details here. We review a district court’s decision to deny a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition de novo. Benn v. Lambert, 283 F.3d 1040, 1051 (9th Cir.2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 942 , 123 S.Ct. 341 , 154 L.Ed.2d 249 (2002).

The Ninth Circuit permits defendants alleging juror partiality to proceed on theories of actual or implied bias. United States v. Plache, 913 F.2d 1375, 1378 (9th Cir.1990). However, we may only imply bias in exceptional circumstances. McDonough Power Equip. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 556-57 , 104 S.Ct. 845 , 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984) (Blaekmun, J., concurring) (citing Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 215-16 , 102 S.Ct. 940 , 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982)). We…