Simmons

MEMORANDUM **

Arizona state prisoner Curtis Graylin Simmons appeals the dismissal of his § 2254 petition. This court granted a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) as to whether the district court erred in invoking the procedural default doctrine to pre *754 elude review of Simmons’ Sixth Amendment claims because the state misapplied its procedural bars to his April 16, 2002 Petition for Post-Conviction Relief (“PCR petition”). 1 We expand the COA to include the issue of whether the district court erred in dismissing Simmons’ § 2254 petition without considering his due process claim based on the state trial court’s failure to rule on the merits of the motion for reconsideration of the denial of his first PCR petition. Simmons has made the necessary “ ‘substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right’ ” as to the motion for reconsideration issue. Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1104 (9th Cir.1999) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2253 (c)(2)). Although his § 2254 petition is not written with complete clarity, it can fairly be read as raising a federal due process claim based on the motion for reconsideration, and reasonable jurists would find it debatable whether the district court…