OPINION
SNEED, Circuit Judge:
This case comes before us on appeal from the district court’s denial of de Kaplany’s habeas corpus petition seeking relief from his 1963 state conviction. The petitioner asserts that his constitutional rights were violated in four separate respects. The first such respect is that the failure of the trial court to conduct a hearing on de Kaplany’s competence to stand trial constituted a denial of due process. The second is that his mental, illness substantially impaired his ability to make a reasoned choice with respect to whether to plead guilty or not and that as a consequence his plea of guilty during the “guilt phase”1 was not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made. The third respect in which de Kaplany alleges his constitutional rights were impaired is that ineffective counsel deprived him of a fair trial. Finally, he contends that the massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution deprived him of a fair trial.
The district court, after a thorough and comprehensive hearing, denied the petition in all respects. We affirm the district court in all respects.2
[977]*977I.
Absence of Hearing On Competency To Stand Trial.
Much of petitioner’s effort is directed toward establishing that prior to judgment in the state proceedings in which he was convicted the judge conducting such proceedings ought to have entertained a bona fide doubt about the competency of the petitioner to stand trial and, in keeping with the teaching of Pate v. Robinson, 388 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966) and Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162, 95 S.Ct. 896, 43 L.Ed.2d 108 (1975), should have ordered a hearing to determine such competency. The evaluation of this contention requires both a brief description of the petitioner’s trial and certain portions of the evidence presented therein as well as an analysis of the applicable legal principles.
A. The Trial.
We turn first to the brief description' of the trial and the pertinent evidence. The district court in which this petition was heard set forth in its opinion a chronology of events which we adopt and set forth in the margin.3 This chronology reveals that prior to the commencement of jury selection on January 7, 1963 three psychiatrists appointed by the trial court had examined the petitioner and that two of them, Drs. Johnsen and Rappaport, had filed their written reports with the trial court. Dr. Johnsen’s report stated that the petitioner was “sane at the time of the commission of the alleged crime and that he is presently sane.” Dr. Rappaport in his report stated that the petitioner was “presently suffering from no mental illness and is able to cooperate with counsel and to assist counsel in the preparation and presentation of a rational [978]*978defense.” The third report, that of Dr. Shoor, was filed on February 8, 1963 and stated that, while the petitioner displayed “some suicidal thinking of the obsessional variety,” he was “sane now and at the time of the commission of the alleged offense.”
On January 14, 1963, the guilt phase of the petitioner’s trial began. On the second day of the trial, in response to the prosecution’s exhibiting in the courtroom a gruesome morgue photograph of his slain wife’s body, the petitioner jumped to his feet shouting “No, no, what did you do to her?” He was forcibly restrained and reseated. The next day petitioner changed his plea to guilty. The hearing in the district court on this petition contains testimony by petitioner’s attorney in the state trial that the guilty plea was a vital part of his strategy to preclude a long trial on guilt during which the jury repeatedly would be confronted with the gruesome nature of the petitioner’s crime. By moving quickly to the sanity phase the attorney believed the petitioner would be positioned more favorably with respect to the jury. The habeas hearing also indicates, however, that the petitioner resisted this strategy for some time although its purpose was known to him. His resistance sprang from his belief that he was not guilty because he had not intended to kill his wife. Although he asserted his resistance was broken by coercion on the part of his attorney, this was vigorously denied by the attorney and the district court found that he was not coerced. This finding is adequately supported by the evidence and is not clearly erroneous.
The state trial court asked petitioner’s attorney at the time of the guilty plea whether he had explained to the petitioner the nature and consequences of his plea. The attorney said he had. The trial court, in a manner somewhat less elaborate than is the practice since Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969),4 asked de Kaplany whether he knew that he had been indicted for murdering his wife, whether he had discussed the matter with his counsel, and whether he fully understood the consequences of the change of his plea. To which he answered responsively, but briefly, “Yes, your Honor”, “Yes I did”, and “I do”. He was not asked if he understood the change of plea might subject him to the death penalty. There seems little doubt that he understood this, however, because his first attorney, who was not his attorney at trial, had informed him of the possibility of being sentenced to die.
To summarize, immediately prior to the commencement of the sanity phase of the trial the state trial court judge confronted a situation in which (1) the reports of three psychiatrists had been filed, none of which expressly or impliedly had indicated that the petitioner was incompetent to stand trial, although none of them precisely had focused on this issue, (2) an attorney for the petitioner who apparently believed his client was competent to stand trial, (3) an outburst in the'courtroom as already indicated, (4) a courtroom demeanor otherwise beyond reproach, and (5) a guilty plea apparently made voluntarily and understanding.
Commencing with the sanity phase of the proceedings the mental condition of de Kaplany properly became the center of attention. Three defense psychiatrists, Drs. Zaslow, Lee and Beaton, who at the request of [979]*979defense counsel had examined de Kaplany, testified regarding his mental condition.
Dr. Zaslow testified that on the basis of certain standard psychological tests the petitioner was “severely disturbed” and displayed an “impairment of the conceptual thinking and use of proper judgment.” Dr. Beaton, in describing the petitioner’s “present mental condition,” stated that petitioner was “very seriously ill, psychiatrically, psychologically,” but that he “knew the difference between right and wrong in the ordinary sense of intellectually knowing.” Dr. Beaton also stated that in his opinion petitioner was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and that petitioner was “not able rationally, logically and consciously to govern his actions.” During Dr. Beaton’s testimony he also expressed the view he suspected the petitioner had had an “ambivalent relationship with his mother all along,” and that his mother was a feminine ideal for him and a “somewhat rejecting woman.” At this point, petitioner interrupted and said in a loud, high voice, “Don’t talk like this about my mother.”
Dr. Lee, whose testimony was the most colorful offered by the defense, gave the opinion that the offense was committed during an acute schizophrenic reaction and that the petitioner suffered from a multiple personality syndrome. It also appeared during Dr. Lee’s testimony that the petitioner in 1946 while a citizen and resident of Hungary had been hospitalized in a neuropsychiatric institution for several weeks.
None of these witnesses expressed an opinion with respect to petitioner’s competence to stand trial and plead guilty. Their testimony quite understandably was directed to the issue of responsibility for the crime.
The prosecution’s witnesses, Drs. John-sen, Rappaport, and Shoor, testified along the lines set forth in their earlier reports. Dr. Johnsen testified that petitioner was “sane at the time of the commission of the alleged crime and that he is presently sane.” The testimony of Dr. Rappaport indicated that petitioner was presently suffering from no mental illness and was competent to cooperate with counsel and to assist counsel in the presentation of a rational defense. Dr. Shoor testified that petitioner displayed “some suicidal thinking of the obsessional variety,” but that he was “sane now and at the time of the commission of the alleged offense.”
The sanity phase of de Kaplany’s state trial came to an end after 28 days when the jury returned a verdict finding him sane at the time of the commission of the crime. The penalty phase commenced four days later and transpired without any incidents relevant to this proceeding. On March 1, 1963, the jury returned a verdict of life imprisonment.
B. The Law.
The petitioner’s contention regarding the state trial court’s failure to conduct a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial rests upon Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966), as applied in Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162, 95 S.Ct. 896, 43 L.Ed.2d 103 (1975), Tillery v. Eyman, 492 F.2d 1056 (9th Cir. 1974), and Moore v. United States, 464 F.2d 663 (9th Cir. 1972).
Before turning to examine these authorities the standard by which competency to stand trial is measured should be stated. In Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960), the Supreme Court held that the “test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.” Id. An orientation as to time and place and some recollection of events is not enough.
In Pate v. Robinson, supra, the Court held that where the evidence raises a “bona fide doubt” as to a defendant’s competence to stand trial, the trial judge on his own motion must empanel a jury and conduct a hearing to determine competency to stand trial. In determining whether the evidence before the trial judge in the state proceedings in which Robinson was convicted should have entertained such a “bona fide [980]*980doubt,” the Court reviewed the history of the events of Robinson’s life that it deemed relevant to the issue of Robinson’s competence 5 and concluded that this evidence did entitle him to a hearing. The failure to provide the hearing “deprived Robinson of his constitutional right to a fair trial.” 383 U.S. at 385, 86 S.Ct. at 842. As in Dusky, the Court emphasized that courtroom demeanor, indicating alertness and understanding, alone could not be relied upon to establish competency and justify “ignoring the uncontradicted testimony of Robinson’s history of pronounced irrational behavior.” Id. at 385-86, 86 S.Ct. at 842.
In Moore, an appeal from a district court’s dismissal of an application for Section 2255 relief, this court was confronted with an applicant who had received a psychiatric examination under 18 U.S.C. § 4244. Even though the psychiatrist’s report concluded that Moore was competent to stand trial, it nonetheless consisted of a recital of “an extensive history of mental illness, including hospitalizations for psychiatric disorders and repeated suicide attempts.” 464 F.2d at 665.6 In the face of this report, in which the psychiatrist’s conclusion was markedly at variance with the body of his report and extensive records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, we concluded that these reports “constituted substantial evidence casting a reasonable doubt upon Moore’s competency to stand trial as a matter of law.” Id. at 666.
In describing the principles of Pate v. Robinson we stated:
“Under the rule of Pate v. Robinson (1966) 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815, a due process evidentiary hearing is constitutionally compelled at any time that there , is ‘substantial evidence’ that the defendant may be mentally incompetent to stand trial. ‘Substantial evidence’ is a term of art. ‘Evidence’ encompasses all information properly be[981]*981fore the court, whether it is in the form of testimony or exhibits formally admitted or it is in the form of medical reports or other kinds of reports that have been filed with the court. Evidence is ‘substantial’ if it raises a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s competency to stand trial. Once there is such evidence from any source, there is a doubt that cannot be dispelled by resort to conflicting evidence. The function of the trial court in applying Pate’s substantial evidence test is not to determine the ultimate issue: Is the defendant competent to stand trial? It [sic] sole function is to decide whether there is any evidence which, assuming its truth, raises a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s competency. At any time that such evidence appears, the trial court sua sponte must order an evidentiary hearing on the competency issue. It is only after the evidentiary hearing, applying the usual rules appropriate to trial, that the court decides the issue of competency of the defendant to stand trial.” Id. at 666.
Tillery v. Eyman, 492 F.2d 1056 (9th Cir. 1974), added nothing new to the Moore’s formulation of the Pate standard and the manner in which it should be applied. Tillery exhibited on frequent occasions erratic and irrational behavior while in custody and in the presence of the court. This behavior led one psychiatrist to question his competency to stand trial while another thought him competent. The state trial court judge and defense counsel appeared to have doubted Tillery’s competence although a contemplated additional psychiatric examination appears never to have been made and no evidentiary hearing was held. Id. at 1057-59. Obviously the failure to hold such a hearing required that Tillery’s petition for habeas corpus be granted.
Before applying these authorities to de Kaplany’s petition one additional case of this circuit should be mentioned. It is Laudermilk v. California Department of Corrections, 439 F.2d 1278 (9th Cir. 1971). In that case a habeas petition was denied by the district court and in affirming that denial we stated that we did so for the reasons set forth in People v. Laudermilk, 67 Cal.2d 272, 61 Cal.Rptr. 644, 431 P.2d 228 (1967). In Laudermilk the petitioner had murdered his wife after suspecting her of infidelity. Pursuant to California law, two psychiatrists examined Laudermilk and reported inter alia that he had been found by two or three psychiatric hospitals to be mentally ill “but not psychotic and not in need of supervision, care and treatment,” 61 Cal.Rptr. at 647, 431 P.2d at 231, that he appeared to be able to understand his situation very well, that his intelligence was average, and that he was sane when he committed the crime and was presently sane. Thereafter counsel for Laudermilk moved that criminal proceedings be suspended on the ground that Laudermilk was not competent to stand trial. The state trial court denied the motion on the ground that the medical reports did not lead “even to a suspicion” regarding Laudermilk’s competence but did agree to appoint another psychiatrist to examine him.
Before the third psychiatrist reported the trial began with the guilt phase and, as in de Kaplany’s trial, aborted quickly with a guilty plea. In Laudermilk’s trial, however, the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was also withdrawn and the prosecutor and defendant stipulated that the court fix the degree of crime as first degree.
Before fixing the penalty the state trial court received the report of the third psychiatrist as well as that of a fourth. The report of the third found Laudermilk able to ascertain right from wrong to assist in his defense but possessing a paranoid personality. It recommended that he be placed in an adequate psychiatric facility under the jurisdiction of the penal system. The fourth psychiatrist’s report agreed Lauder-milk had a paranoid personality but was competent to stand trial. Upon Lauder-milk’s waiver of a jury trial regarding the penalty and a recommendation of life imprisonment in an appropriate psychiatric facility by the prosecutor and defense counsel, the state trial court sentenced Laudermilk to life with the observation that the prison [982]*982authorities would be able to determine best where he should serve his sentence.
Laudermilk appealed his conviction on the ground that an evidentiary hearing on competence should have been conducted. He relied particularly on People v. Pennington, 66 Cal.2d 508, 58 Cal.Rptr. 374, 426 P.2d 942 (1967), in which the Supreme Court of California said:
“Pate v. Robinson stands for the proposition that an accused has a constitutional right to a hearing on present sanity if he comes forward with substantial evidence that he is incapable, because of mental illness, of understanding the nature of the proceedings against him or of assisting in his defense. Once such substantial evidence appears, a doubt as to the sanity of the accused exists, no matter how persuasive other evidence — testimony of prosecution witnesses or the court’s own observations of the accused — may be to the contrary. . . . [W]hen defendant has come forward with substantial evidence of present mental incompetence, he is entitled to a section 1368 hearing as a matter of right under Pate v. Robinson . . . .” Id. at 381, 426 P.2d at 949.
Laudermilk’s reliance was premised on the contention that Pennington required that only evidence indicating incompetence of the accused to stand trial be marshaled to determine whether it amounted to substantial evidence of incompetency. As Lauder-milk read Pennington, if such evidence was substantial a hearing was required no matter how compelling was evidence to the contrary. Despite the fact that the author of Pennington, Justice Peters, also interpreted it in this fashion,7 the majority of the Supreme Court of California, after examining all the pertinent evidence before the trial court, held that Laudermilk “did not produce substantial evidence of present mental incompetence so that it could be said that a doubt as to [Laudermilk’s] present sanity was raised in the mind of the trial judge and the latter was compelled to order that the question as to defendant’s sanity be determined by a trial.” 61 Cal.Rptr. at 653, 431 P.2d at 237.
Moreover, the Supreme Court of California indicated that under Pate and Pennington “more is required to raise a doubt than mere bizarre actions [citations omitted] or bizarre statements [citations omitted] or statements of defense counsel that defendant is incapable of cooperating in his defense [citations omitted] or psychiatric testimony that defendant is immature, dangerous, psychopathic, or homicidal or such diagnosis with little reference to defendant’s ability to assist in his own defense, [citations omitted].” Id. And finally it refused to fragment the report of a psychiatrist focusing only on those features indicating incompetence when on balance the psychiatrist had concluded Laudermilk was competent to stand trial. 61 Cal.Rptr. 655, 431 P.2d at 239.
As we did on appeal from the denial of Laudermilk’s habeas petition, we once more approve these views of the Supreme Court of California. Nor do we regard Moore and Tillery as inconsistent with this approval. Two sentences in Moore, already set forth above at p. 981, have been advanced by de Kaplany’s counsel in this proceeding to support the view that this circuit, in effect, has adopted the approach of Justice Peters. These two are:
“Evidence is ‘substantial’ if it raises a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s competency to stand trial. Once there is such evidence from any source, there is a doubt that cannot be dispelled by resort to conflicting evidence.”
We interpret these two sentences to mean nothing more than that once good faith doubt exists, or should exist, its resolution requires a hearing. These sentences do not mean that doubt necessarily exists, and thus a hearing is required, because certain evidence exists which would create a doubt were it not for other evidence which precludes doubt. Genuine doubt, not [983]*983a synthetic or constructive doubt, is the measuring rod.8 The emergence of genuine doubt in the mind of a trial judge necessarily is the consequence of his total experience and his evaluation of the testimony and events of the trial.
Moreover, Pate and Drope teach that appellate review of a failure to provide a hearing on competence to stand trial is comprehensive and not limited by either the abuse of discretion or clearly erroneous standard. The question to be asked by the reviewing court is whether a reasonable judge, situated as was the trial court judge whose failure to conduct an evidentiary hearing is being reviewed, should have experienced doubt with respect to competency to stand trial.
C. The Evaluation.
In applying these principles to the failure of the state trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on de Kaplany’s competency to stand trial we shall focus on the three phases of his trial. With respect to the guilt phase we cannot conclude that at anytime during this phase the state trial court judge should have entertained a good faith doubt concerning de Kaplany’s competency. The courtroom outburst described above cannot be considered without also considering the reports of the three psychiatrists, the apparent belief of defense counsel that his client was competent, and the demeanor of de Kaplany prior and subsequent to his outburst. It is important to remember that the state court at no time was confronted with evidence of a long and extensive history of irrational behavior and mental illness as in Pate, Drope, and Moore. Nor was he, as in Tillery, confronted with a psychiatric-report which threw doubt on the defendant’s competency to stand trial. The absence of a good faith doubt as to competency at this point in the trial was reasonable.
The sanity phase of the petitioner’s trial poses a more difficult issue. Framing the issue favorably to the petitioner, it is whether the state trial court should not have entertained a good faith doubt as to competence of petitioner to stand trial in the light of the evidence introduced by the defense regarding petitioner’s sanity and all other relevant circumstances known to the court. We believe, and so hold, that he should not have entertained such a good faith doubt.
To support this holding we point out that the psychiatric testimony favorable to the petitioner presented during the sanity phase was directed toward his responsibility under the criminal law for the crime and not to his competency to stand trial. We are not prepared to assert that in every trial in which the sanity of the defendant is contested there must exist a good faith doubt which requires a hearing on competency.9 Of course, where the testimony re[984]*984garding sanity also suggests incompetency the trial court must be alert to the possibility of having to require a hearing on competency. While it may have been the case [985]*985that de Kaplany at the time of his trial was suffering from a mental illness, we cannot say that the evidence supporting this diagnosis, when placed in its context, which includes psychiatric testimony suggesting sanity and no mental illness, was sufficient to generate a good faith doubt about his competence to stand trial.
We also are aware that during the sanity phase of a trial the judge may well be reluctant to interrupt those proceedings to conduct a competency hearing which generally will involve the testimony of the same psychiatrists presently testifying with respect to sanity of the defendant. This reluctance must not serve as an excuse to suppress the emergence of a good faith doubt regarding competence; however, in reviewing a failure to so interrupt the sanity phase, we must bear in mind that a trial judge may be interested in hearing as much as he can before he concludes that he does entertain a good faith doubt.
Little need be said concerning the penalty phase of the petitioner’s trial. Certainly the verdict of sanity, viewed in its context, does not suggest a good faith doubt as to petitioner’s competence to stand trial. Nor did any event that occurred during this phase of the trial so suggest.
M Thus, we conclude that the district court properly concluded that the failure of the state trial court to conduct a hearing on the petitioner’s competence to stand trial did not deny him his due process right to a fair trial.
II.
Validity of Guilty Plea.
The petitioner’s contention that his mental illness substantially impaired his ability to make a reasoned choice with respect to whether to plead guilty rests on this court’s decision in Sieling v. Eyman, 478 F.2d 211 (9th Cir. 1978). There we held that a defendant is not competent to plead guilty if a mental illness has substantially impaired his ability to make a reasoned choice among the alternatives presented to him and to understand the nature and consequences of his plea. Id. at 215. Consistent therewith we also held that trial courts should “assess a defendant’s competency with specific reference to the gravity of the decisions with which the defendant is faced.” Id.
While these holdings have been criticized both for recognizing a state of semi-competence which permits a trial but denies a defendant the opportunity to plea bargain, and for providing an additional ground fraught with psychiatric uncertainties for collateral attack on guilty pleas,10 we adhere to our position. Moreover, we recognize that at no time did the state trial court focus its attention specifically on the issue whether de Kaplany, assuming he was competent to stand trial, also was competent to take the serious step of surrendering certain fundamental constitutional rights by pleading guilty. Under these circumstances in Sieling v. Eyman we remanded the proceedings to the state court to resolve the question of competency to plead guilty. We do not believe this form of relief is always necessary or appropriate.
The hearing before the district court on this petition was quite thorough with respect to competence to plead guilty. Somewhat surprisingly, in view of the period of time that has elapsed since de Kaplany’s trial, several of the psychiatrists who testified at the trial, as well as petitioner’s counsel at the trial, appeared and testified at the hearing in the district court. As a result of the hearing the district court concluded:
“Notwithstanding testimony by doctors at the present habeas corpus hearing concerning their observations of petitioner after his conviction and during his ultimate imprisonment, and their opinions based thereon, we cannot say and are unable to find or conclude from the evidence before us, considered as a whole, that petitioner in fact lacked the requisite mental capacity to stand trial or that he in fact lacked the requisite mental capacity to enter his plea of guilty, within the [986]*986meaning of the authorities cited, supra. Nor can we say or find that petitioner’s change of plea was involuntary because of coercion by his attorney or otherwise. It may be noted that, according to the evidence, petitioner was sufficiently aware, assertive and resistant to pressure as to dismiss his first attorney and to engage other counsel to try his case.”
We have reviewed the record of the hearing and agree with this conclusion. Due process does not require another hearing on this issue nor would any useful purpose be served thereby. Under the circumstances of this case we believe a retroactive determination of competency to plead guilty not only is possible but also appropriately was made by the district court. In expressing this view we do not intend to suggest that where a retroactive determination is possible a remand to the state court for such a determination is not usually a proper form of relief. We only hold that under the circumstances of this case, the petitioner suffers no deprivation of a constitutional right as a result of the procedures we have adopted.11
III.
Effectiveness of Counsel.
The petitioner strongly contends that his counsel at the state trial provided ineffec-
tive assistance primarily because he did not, during the guilt phase of the trial, plead “diminished capacity or responsibility” (See People v. Gorsham, 51 Cal.2d 716, 336 P.2d 492 (1959); People v. Wells, 33 Cal.2d 330, 202 P.2d 53 (1949)) to the offense, murder by torture, with which the petitioner was charged. It is argued that such a plea would have placed upon the prosecution the burden of proving no diminished capacity or responsibility while the plea of guilty placed upon the petitioner the burden of establishing insanity. As previously indicated, petitioner’s counsel at the state court trial in the hearing on this petition contended that he rejected the plea of diminished capacity and urged a plea of guilty to eliminate to the extent possible a presentation of evidence during the guilt phase of the trial which would direct the jury’s attention to the many days of suffering endured by petitioner’s wife before she died. Only in this manner, petitioner’s counsel at the state trial argued, could he hope to save petitioner from a sentence of death.
Petitioner also contends that his counsel at the state trial was ineffective because he did not ask for a hearing on petitioner’s competence to stand trial. Counsel in the district court hearing responded by pointing out that he had no reason to doubt the petitioner’s competence to stand trial and [987]*987that the reports of the psychiatrists then available to him did not suggest incompetence.
Finally, petitioner contends that his counsel was ineffective in that he failed to request a change of venue of the trial to reduce the adverse impact of the publicity surrounding the case. Once more counsel responded by pointing out that in his opinion a jury selected from Santa Clara County, which sentenced the petitioner to life imprisonment, served the interests of the petitioner better than one from another county. Counsel avers that he believed at the time that such a verdict was more likely in Santa Clara County than elsewhere.
There has never been a trial, certainly not one as closely watched as was petitioner’s, with respect to which there have not been arguments between attorneys and others about the strategy adopted by the opposing counsel. So it is in this case. Moreover, it is understandable that one who is convicted, even though execution was avoided, will forever ponder about what might have been had the strategy been different.
Our task, however, is to measure the conduct of the petitioner’s counsel against the applicable standard. Whether we use the standard of performance so poor and incompetent as to make the trial a farce or mockery of justice (United States v. Stern, 519 F.2d 521, 524 (9th Cir. 1975); Wright v. Craven, 412 F.2d 915 (9th Cir. 1969); Dalrymple v. Wilson, 366 F.2d 183,185 (9th Cir. 1966)), or of whether the circumstances show a denial of fundamental fairness (United States v. Stern, supra, at 525; Mengarelli v. United States, 476 F.2d 617, 619 (9th Cir. 1973); Johnson v. Craven, 432 F.2d 418 (9th Cir. 1970)), or of lack of effective aid in the preparation and trial of the case — lack of counsel likely to render and rendering reasonably effective assistance (Leano v. United States, 457 F.2d 1208 (9th Cir. 1972); Brubaker v. Dickson, 310 F.2d 30, 37 (9th Cir. 1962)), the result is the same. Petitioner was not deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Thus we need not choose between these standards.
IV.
Effect of Publicity or Right to Fair Trial.
Our holding with respect to the effectiveness of petitioner’s state trial counsel foreshadows our views with respect to petitioner’s contention that massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity prevented him from receiving a fair trial. See Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966). Petitioner appears to recognize the insubstantiality of this argument by failing to press it with any vigor either in the hearing in the district court or in his arguments presented to us. Although the trial of de Kaplany attracted considerable attention from the press, radio, and television, we hold the circumstances surrounding his trial do not reveal the existence of the chaos and subordination of the judicial process to the demands of media representatives that existed in Sheppard v. Maxwell, de Kaplany received a fair trial.
AFFIRMED.