Blanks

MEMORANDUM *

Christopher Blanks appeals the district court’s dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus for failure to exhaust his claim. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we reverse.

Blanks contends that the claims he asserted in state court fairly presented (1) the same factual substance — the trial court’s summary denial of his request to replace appointed counsel with retained counsel, and (2) the same legal theory— that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel requires a court to inquire why a defendant seeks to replace counsel instead of summarily denying the request. We review de novo the question of whether a prisoner has exhausted state remedies. Greene v. Lambert, 288 F.3d 1081, 1086 (9th Cir.2002). Although the California Court of Appeal’s opinion rejected Blanks’ Sixth Amendment claim by analyzing only the issue of whether the trial court erred in failing to conduct a hearing pursuant to People v. Marsden, 2 Cal.3d 118 , 84 Cal.Rptr. 156 , 465 P.2d 44 (1970), it appears that Blanks indeed presented, in his state court briefs, his federal habeas argument that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment rights by summarily…