Cite as: 516 U. S. 99 (1995)
Thomas, J., dissenting
freedom of movement" of the degree associated with a formal arrest.' " Stansbury v. California, 511 U. S. 318, 322 (1994) (quoting California v. Beheler, 463 U. S. 1121, 1125 (1983) (per curiam), quoting in turn Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U. S. 492, 495 (1977) (per curiam)). " '[T]he only relevant inquiry is how a reasonable man in the suspect's position would have understood his situation.' " 511 U. S., at 324 (quoting Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U. S. 420, 442 (1984)).
I agree with the majority that a legal standard must be applied by a state trial judge in making the Miranda custody inquiry. In light of our more recent decisions applying § 2254(d), however, I do not agree that the standards articulated in Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293 (1963), overruled in part by Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes, 504 U. S. 1, 5 (1992), for distinguishing factual issues from mixed questions of law and fact, dictate a result either way in this case. See, e. g., Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U. S. 412, 429 (1985) ( juror bias determination is a question of fact, even though "[t]he trial judge is of course applying some kind of legal standard to what he sees and hears"); Patton v. Yount, 467 U. S. 1025, 1037, n. 12 (1984) ( juror bias is a question of fact although "[t]here are, of course, factual and legal questions to be considered in deciding whether a juror is qualified"). Because the Miranda custody issue "falls somewhere between a pristine legal standard and a simple historical fact," we must decide, "as a matter of the sound administration of justice, [which] judicial actor is better positioned . . . to decide the issue in question." Miller v. Fenton, 474 U. S. 104, 114 (1985).
The state trial judge is, in my estimation, the best-positioned judicial actor to decide the relatively straightforward and fact-laden question of Miranda custody. See California v. Beheler, supra, at 1128 (Stevens, J., dissenting) (state "courts are far better equipped than we are to assess the police practices that are highly relevant to the determination whether particular circumstances amount to custodial
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