Ramon Simpson v. United States

QUESTION ONE: Whether, in light of a profound and acknowledged circuit split, a district court may deny a § 2255 hearing by making a dispositive credibility determination against a petitioner based on an ambiguous and contested paper record, or whether § 2255(b) and this Court’s precedent in Machibroda v. United States, 368 U.S. 487 (1962), require a Eve evidentiary hearing to resolve such material factual disputes? ANSWER IN THE AFFIRMATIVE QUESTION TWO: Whether a court of appeals commits reversible error by denying a certificate of appealabihty where jurists of reason could—and in fact do—debate the propriety of a district court’s dismissal of a substantial Sixth Amendment claim under Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012), thereby failing to conduct the deliberate, petitioner-favorable threshold inquiry mandated by this Court’s decisions in Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322 (2003), and Slack v, McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473(2000)2 ANSWER IN THE AFFIRMATIVE