OPINION
These consolidated appeals concern the grant of habeas relief to Petitioner-Appellee Wynn Satterlee, a Michigan state prisoner who was convicted by jury and *364 sentenced after his trial counsel failed to inform him of a favorable plea offer. The district court initially granted a conditional writ, ordering the state to reinstate the plea offer that Satterlee never received. When the state failed to comply, the district court granted an unconditional writ, ordering Satteriee’s immediate release and the expungement of his record of conviction.
In No. 05-2013, the state challenges the judgment granting the conditional writ, arguing that Satterlee failed to exhaust state-court remedies and that the district court made a clearly erroneous factual finding. Because the state’s arguments are without merit, we AFFIRM.
In No. 05-2513, the state challenges the judgment granting the unconditional writ, arguing that the remedies of immediate release and expungement exceeded the district court’s power. Because the state’s arguments are once again without merit, we AFFIRM, albeit with instructions to clarify an ambiguity in the unconditional writ, which is discussed below. We REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I. BACKGROUND
Satterlee was convicted by a Michigan jury of conspiring to deliver more than 650 grams of cocaine and was sentenced to twenty to thirty years’ imprisonment. Satterlee appealed on grounds not relevant here. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed, and the Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal.
People v. Satterlee,
No. 217262,
Satterlee moved for relief from judgment pursuant to Michigan Court Rule 6.502, arguing, inter alia, that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel under
Strickland v. Washington,
Satterlee filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court conducted an evidentiary hearing, where Dodge, John Cipriani (the state prosecutor in Satteriee’s case), Satterlee, and Margaret Satterlee (Satteriee’s mother) testified.
Satterlee v. Wolfenbarger (Satterlee I),
The district court concluded that “there is a reasonable probability that petitioner would have accepted the plea offer that
*365
was made in this case.” Relying on our decision in
Griffin v. United States,
When the conditional writ’s sixty-day deadline passed, Satterlee applied for his immediate release, to which the state responded by filing a motion in the district court for a stay pending its appeal in No. 05-2013. The district court denied the state’s motion for stay and granted Satterlee an unconditional writ, ordering his immediate release and the expungement of the record of his conviction.
Satterlee v. Wolfenbarger (Satterlee II),
No. Civ. 03-71682-DT,
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
In a habeas proceeding, we review de novo the district court’s legal conclusions, including its ultimate decision to grant or deny the writ, and we review for clear error its factual findings.
Burton v. Renico,
III. THE CONDITIONAL WRIT (No. 05-2013)
A. Exhaustion/Fair Presentment
The state first argues that Satterlee did not satisfy the exhaustion requirement. A writ of habeas corpus may not be granted unless the petitioner has exhausted available state-court remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1). In order to satisfy the exhaustion requirement, “a petitioner’s claim must be ‘fairly presented’ to the state courts before seeking relief in the federal courts.”
Whiting v. Burt,
The state concedes that Satterlee’s legal theory — that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel under Strickland and Hill when his trial attorney failed to relay a favorable plea offer — was fairly presented to the state courts. Appellant Br. (05-2013) at 20. Its exhaustion argument is instead premised on the contention that Satterlee did not fairly present to the state courts the factual allegations underlying his legal theory. According to the state, although the district court granted the *366 writ based on Dodge’s failure to relay a six-to-twenty-year offer made the morning of trial (“morning offer”), before the state courts Satterlee relied on Dodge’s failure to relay a different offer — one that Dodge allegedly sent via letter to Satterlee a week before trial (“letter offer”). Thus, the state argues, Satterlee did not fairly present his IAC claim to the state courts.
The state’s argument is without merit, as it is wrong on the facts. Although his IAC argument in the state postconviction proceedings focused on the letter offer, Satterlee also notified the state courts of the morning offer:
There will be some factual disputes to be resolved at a hearing. The letter of David Dodge of November 30, 1998, which Defendant received only after being convicted and sentenced, refers to a plea offer of 3 to 7 years. Yet, present counsel spoke by telephone with prosecutor John Cipriani, and Mr. Cipriani states that there was never a plea offer of 3 to 7 years, but that there was a plea offer of 6 to 20 years. (See affidavit of James Lawrence). Something peculiar is going on here, where attorney Dodge after sentence comes up with letters never before seen by Defendant, allegedly advising him of an offer, yet the prosecutor says that offer was never made. At this point, Defendant and his counsel are unsure of who to believe, prosecutor Cipriani or attorney Dodge, who directly contradict each other. An evidentiary hearing is clearly needed.
J.A. at 104 (Br. in Supp. of Mot. for Relief from J. at 2 n. 1) (emphases added), 155 (Br. in Supp. of Application for Leave to Appeal at 5 n. 1) (emphases added). Therefore, Satterlee informed the state courts of Dodge’s failure to relay both plea offers, and the relief eventually granted by the district court was based on one of them. Accordingly, Satterlee fairly presented both the legal and factual bases of his IAC claim to the state courts. 2
B. Factual Findings/Credibility
The state next objects to a factual finding made by the district court. We review for clear error a factual finding made pursuant to a habeas court’s evidentiary hearing.
Carter v. Mitchell,
After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the district court found that Satterlee, his mother, and Cipriani were all more credible than Dodge.
Satterlee I,
The state first claims that Satterlee changed his story about where he was when Dodge allegedly mailed the letter offer. According to the state, Satterlee claimed before the state courts and in his federal habeas petition that he was in Nevada, but at the evidentiary hearing he admitted he was in Michigan. The first half of the state’s contention is time, as Satterlee did in fact claim in his filings that he was in Nevada. J.A. at 26 (Br. in Supp. of Pet. for Habeas Corpus at 4), 78 (Satterlee Aff. ¶ 6), 104 (Br. in Supp. of Mot. for Relief from J. at 2), 154 (Br. in Supp. of Application for Leave to Appeal at 4). Satterlee did not, however, contradict this position at the evidentiary hearing. Satterlee was never asked for his whereabouts at the time the letter offer was allegedly mailed, so he never even had the opportunity to contradict himself. 3
The state next contends that at the hearing Satterlee denied ever being notified of a seven-to-twenty-year plea offer, even though elsewhere in his testimony he admitted to receiving a letter containing such an offer. 4 This time the second half of the state’s assertion is correct, as Satterlee did in fact acknowledge receiving a letter containing a seven-to-twenty-year plea offer. See J.A. at 375 (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 106) (referring to letter dated Sept. 16); J.A. at 73-74 (Letter of Sept. 16, 1998) (relaying the offer); see also J.A. at 77 (Satterlee Aff. ¶ 4) (acknowledging awareness of the offer). As for the first part of its assertion (i.e., that Satterlee ever denied being informed of the offer), the state offers no citation to the record in support, but it presumably relies on the following exchange during the direct examination of Satterlee:
Q. At that time, at the time that you were sentenced, were you still unaware of any offer of six to 20 or seven to 20?
A. No, I was not.
Q. Were you aware or unaware?
A. I was not aware of any offer.
J.A. at 373-74 (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 104-05). On its face, this testimony would seem to support the state’s assertion that Satterlee denied being aware of the seven-to-twenty-year offer and therefore contradicted himself. However, this exchange followed soon after a discussion of the morning *368 offer of six to twenty years. See J.A. at 370-71 (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 101-02). Up to that point in the testimony, the topic of the seven-to-twenty-year offer had not been raised. Given this context, it is likely that Satterlee understood the question’s reference to the seven-to-twenty-year offer to be an inadvertent slip, with the question actually directed at the six-to-twenty-year (morning) offer that had just been discussed. Thus, it is difficult to conclude that Satterlee was inconsistent on this point.
Finally, the state claims that Satterlee’s testimony that he would have accepted the morning offer of six to twenty years is inconsistent with statements in various pleadings that he did not want a sentence with a twenty-year maximum. This time, the state gets both halves of its assertion right, as Satterlee both testified that he would have accepted the morning offer, J.A. at 371 (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 102), and said in his filings that he did not want a sentence with a twenty-year maximum, J.A. at 27 (Br. in Supp. of Pet. for Habeas Corpus at 5), 77 (Satterlee Aff. ¶ 4), 103 (Br. in Supp. of Mot. for Relief from J. at 1), 155 (Br. in Supp. of Application for Leave to Appeal at 5 n. 1). However, these two positions are not necessarily inconsistent, for at least two reasons. First, one may very well decide to accept a plea offer if its minimum sentence is low enough, even if its maximum sentence is otherwise unappealing. In other words, Satterlee could have found the morning offer’s six-to-twenty-year term palatable because of its six-year minimum, even if he did not like the twenty-year maximum. Second, and more fundamentally, Satterlee testified that he “thought that ...
the whole idea
behind cooperating and doing everything they asked, giving statements, making trips to Lansing,
was to get the very best deal;
that
it was not to go to trial.”
J.A. at 371 (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 102) (emphases added). Maintaining the negotiating position of being unwilling to accept a twenty-year maximum is consistent with the objective of obtaining the best possible deal, while accepting an offer of six to twenty years made immediately before trial is'consistent with the objective of avoiding trial.
Cf. Griffin,
The above analysis demonstrates that Satterlee never really contradicted himself. In any event, to the extent that certain statements were arguably inconsistent, we are not “ ‘left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed,’ ”
Norris,
IV. The Unconditional Writ (No. 05-2513)
A. Unconditional Release
The district court issued a conditional writ, allowing Satterlee to apply for immediate release unless the state made within sixty days a plea offer of six to twenty years.
Satterlee I,
What the state appears to have forgotten is that
it did not comply with the conditional writ.
As a sister circuit has explained, “[conditional [writs] are essentially accommodations accorded to the state. They represent a [habeas] court’s holding that a[n] ... infirmity justifies petitioner’s release. The conditional nature of the order provides the state with a window of time within which it might cure the ... error.”
Phifer v. Warden,
The state offers no authority contrary to those cited above; instead, it offers an argument that we reject for the reasons stated in the margin. 6 Thus, we conclude that the district court acted well within its power by ordering Satterlee’s immediate release.
B. Expungement
Finally, the state objects to the portion of the unconditional writ ordering the ex-pungement of the record of Satterlee’s conviction.
Satterlee II,
It appears that we have never expressly addressed whether habeas courts have the power to order the ex-pungement of the record of a conviction. We conclude that they do. The habeas statute provides that “[t]he court shall ... dispose of the matter
as law and justice require.”
28 U.S.C. § 2243 (emphasis added). Based on this broad language, the Supreme Court has explained that the remedial power possessed by habeas courts is not limited to ordering a prisoner’s discharge from physical custody.
Preiser v. Rodriguez,
C. Reprosecution
Although we affirm the district court’s decision to order both Satterlee’s immediate release and the expungement of his record of conviction, the unconditional writ leaves ambiguous an important issue: whether the state may reprosecute Satterlee. In a typical case in which a prisoner is released because a state fails to retry the prisoner by the deadline set in a conditional writ, “the state is not precluded from rearresting petitioner and retrying him under the same indictment.”
Fisher,
*371 y. CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, we AFFIRM the grant of the conditional writ in No. 05-2013, AFFIRM the grant of the unconditional writ in No. 05-2513 with instructions to clarify, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. The joint appendices filed in these two appeals are virtually identical. For the sake of simplicity, we cite only to the joint appendix filed in No. 05-2013.
. Moreover, the IAC claim would be exhausted even if the state were right on the facts (i.e., if Satterlee had not informed the state courts of the morning offer). The Supreme Court has explained that “presentation of additional facts to the district court, pursuant to that court’s directions, [does not] evade[] the exhaustion requirement when the prisoner has presented the substance of his claim to the state courts,” so long as "the supplemental evidence presented by [the prisoner] d[oes] not fundamentally alter the legal claim already considered by the state courts.”
Vasquez v. Hillety,
. Instead, Satterlee was simply asked whether the address on the letter was correct, and he testified that it was not. J.A. at 367, 374-75. (Evid. Hr'g Tr. at 98, 105-06).
. The letter discussed in this paragraph is different from the "letter offer."
. In accordance with these principles, this court has consistently endorsed the ’use of conditional writs, whether by affirming district courts that grant them,
e.g., Madrigal v. Bagley,
. From what we can determine, this is the state's argument: (1) if the state had made (and Satterlee had accepted) the offer mandated by the conditional writ, then Satterlee would now be in prison, subject to release only via parole; (2) thus, the subsequent grant of immediate release was a "usurpation of the authority of the Michigan Parole Board.” Appellant Br. (05-2513) at 8. The state is basically asking us to ignore the well-settled precedent and practice (cited above) establishing that the consequence of a state’s failure to comply with a conditional writ is release of the prisoner. We decline to do so.
The state’s argument also fails as a matter of common sense. Put in general terms, the state contends the following: (1) The law says you must do A, or else sanction B will be imposed; (2) even if it is undisputed that you failed to do A, you can avoid sanction B simply by pointing out that if you had done A after all, then sanction B would not have been imposed. We think it apparent that this argument is illogical and merits no further discussion.
. If the district court permits reprosecution, it should also consider whether "law and justice require," 28 U.S.C. § 2243, the writ to in-elude a provision mandating the state to reinstate the six-to-twenty-year offer if it ever chooses to reprosecute Satterlee. The ineffec
*371
tive assistance of counsel is "subject to the general rule that remedies should be tailored to the injury suffered from the constitutional violation.”
United States v. Morrison,
