Manning

MEMORANDUM **

Warden Phil Foster (“the State”) appeals the district court’s decision granting petitioner Steven Manning’s habeas corpus petition. We previously reversed the district court’s denial of Manning’s petition and remanded for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the actions of Manning’s attorney (“Ryan”) were the cause of Manning’s procedural default. Manning v. Foster, 224 F.3d 1129 (9th Cir.2000) (“Manning /”). On remand, the district court found that Ryan’s actions did constitute cause and granted Manning’s petition. In this appeal, the State argues that the district court applied an incorrect standard in evaluating Ryan’s actions, and that the district court erred in finding that such actions constituted cause excusing Manning’s default. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 2253. We review the district court’s grant of the habeas petition de novo, Hunter v. Ayers, 336 F.3d 1007, 1011 (9th Cir.2003), and we affirm.

The district court applied the correct legal standard in finding that Ryan’s actions constituted cause excusing Manning’s procedural default. In our opinion in Manning I, we directed the district court to determine “whether Ryan’s…