Julio Mendiola v. James M. Schomig, Warden, Pontiac Correctional Center

It is our obligation in habeas corpus to defer to the state courts, not to clean up after them. The trial judge in this case left a gaping hole in the record when he “found” that Maria Balderrama lied and *594the prosecutor she accused of suppressing evidence told the truth, without bothering to hear either one of them testify. Rather than remanding for an evidentiary hearing, the Illinois appellate court compounded the problem when, “drawing] inferences of fact from the record,” it dismissed Bal-derrama’s post-trial statement as “highly incredible.” Today, my colleagues conclude not only that no…