Does a defendant have to present a habeas petition before the court?

Defendant claims the trial court "most likely" ruled that, because there was already a final judgment, defendant's only remedy was to file a habeas petition. If that had been its reasoning, however, it would have either (1) denied the motion outright or (2) denied the motion specifically without prejudice to a habeas petition. Instead, it denied the motion without prejudice to "rais[ing] this issue at a later date with live testimony." A habeas petition may be summarily denied if it fails to make a prima facie showing of a right to relief. (People v. Romero (1994) 8 Cal.4th 728, 737.) Thus, a habeas petition does not necessarily entail live testimony. Indeed, in our experience, only a small minority of habeas petitions result in an evidentiary hearing. Taking the trial court at its word, then, it seems that it was concerned with defendant's failure to present live testimony, not with his failure to file a habeas petition.