Cite as: 506 U. S. 390 (1993)
O'Connor, J., concurring
the Court of Appeals recognized, that rationale was insufficient to support the stay order. Texas courts do not recognize new evidence claims on collateral review. Id., at 67-68. Nor would they entertain petitioner's claim as a motion for a new trial; under Texas law, such motions must be made within 30 days of trial. See ante, at 400, 410; App. 68. Because petitioner could not have obtained relief—or even a hearing—through the state courts, it was error for the District Court to enter a stay permitting him to try.
Of course, the Texas courts would not be free to turn petitioner away if the Constitution required otherwise. But the District Court did not hold that the Constitution required them to entertain petitioner's claim. On these facts, that would be an extraordinary holding. Petitioner did not raise his claim shortly after Texas' 30-day limit expired; he raised it eight years too late. Consequently, the District Court would have had to conclude not that Texas' 30-day limit for new evidence claims was too short to comport with due process, but that applying an 8-year limit to petitioner would be. As the Court demonstrates today, see ante, at 408-411, there is little in fairness or history to support such a conclusion.
But even if the District Court did hold that further federal proceedings were warranted, surely it abused its discretion. The affidavits do not reveal a likelihood of actual innocence. See ante, at 393-395, 417-419; supra, at 423-427. In-person repetition of the affiants' accounts at an evidentiary hearing could not alter that; the accounts are, on their face and when compared to the proof at trial, unconvincing. As a result, further proceedings were improper even under the rather lax standard the dissent urges, for " 'it plainly appear[ed] from the face of the petition and [the] exhibits annexed to it that the petitioner [wa]s not entitled to relief.' " Post, at 445 (quoting 28 U. S. C. § 2254 Rule 4).
The abuse of discretion is particularly egregious given the procedural posture. The District Court actually entered an order staying the execution. Such stays on "second or suc-
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