106
Opinion of the Court
768 P. 2d 127, 131 (Alaska App. 1989).3 The Alaska Supreme Court denied discretionary review. App. 24.
Thompson filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. The District Court denied the writ, according a presumption of correctness under 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d) to the state court's conclusion that, when Thompson confessed, he was not yet "in custody" for Miranda purposes. App. 37. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed without publishing an opinion. 34 F. 3d 1073 (1994). Based on Circuit precedent,4 the court held that "a state court's determination that a defendant was not in custody for purposes of Miranda is a question of fact entitled to the presumption of correctness under 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d)." App. 41.
Federal Courts of Appeals disagree on the issue Thompson asks us to resolve: whether state-court "in custody" determinations are matters of fact entitled to a presumption of correctness under 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d), or mixed questions of law and fact warranting independent review by the federal habeas court. Compare Feltrop v. Delo, 46 F. 3d 766, 773 (CA8 1995) (applying presumption of correctness), with Jacobs v. Singletary, 952 F. 2d 1282, 1291 (CA11 1992) (conducting independent review). Because uniformity among federal courts is important on questions of this order, we granted certiorari to end the division of authority. 513 U. S.
3 It is unclear in this case what deference the Alaska appellate court accorded to the trial court's conclusion that petitioner was not "in custody"; in later decisions, the Alaska Court of Appeals reviewed the trial courts' "in custody" determinations for "clear error." See Higgins v. State, 887 P. 2d 966, 971 (Alaska App. 1994); McKillop v. State, 857 P. 2d 358, 361 (Alaska App. 1993).
4 The panel relied on Krantz v. Briggs, 983 F. 2d 961, 964 (CA9 1993), which held that state-court "in custody" determinations warrant a presumption of correctness under § 2254(d) if the state court made factfindings after a hearing on the merits.
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