Le V. Mullin

Petitioner-Appellant Hung Thanh Le, a state prisoner in Oklahoma, filed a petition pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 2254 seeking habeas corpus relief from his convictions for first-degree murder, robbery, and assault and resulting death sentence. In his petition, Mr. Le raised thirty-one grounds for relief. The district court denied him relief on each ground, and it also denied Mr. Le's request for a Certificate of Appealability ("COA"). After conducting a case management conference, this court granted a COA on three issues. On the basis of his COA, Mr. Le now appeals the denial of his § 2254 petition, arguing that (1) he was deprived of a fair trial because of the prosecutor's improper remarks; (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel at trial; and (3) he should have been granted an evidentiary hearing by the district court in relation to these first two issues. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U. S. C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we affirm the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief on all three grounds.