1. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in denying a certificate of appealability where the petitioner alleged a violation of the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause pursuant to Hicks v. Oklahoma, 447 U.S. 343 (1980), based on the trial court's arbitrary refusal to comply with a state statute which created a protected liberty interest?

2. Whether a certificate of appealability was warranted where the petitioner raised a substantial question as to a federal habeas court's duty to review the legitimacy of a state's invocation of a procedural rule subject to virtually unlimited discretion to preclude federal review of constitutional claims?

3. Whether the Ninth Circuit's denial of a certificate of appealability was in error as reasonable jurists could debate that the state court's application of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1978) was objectively unreasonable where the conviction was necessarily based on speculative testimony and in disregard of clear and certain exculpatory evidence?

Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in denying a certificate of appealability for alleged due process violations and federal habeas review issues