Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_10-cv-01639/USCOURTS-casd-3_10-cv-01639-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2254 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (State)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LAMONTI MITCHELL,

Petitioner,

Civil No. 10cv1639-BTM (BGS)

ORDER:

(1) VACATING MARCH 29, 2012

JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO

FED.R.CIV.P. 60(a);

(2) ADOPTING IN PART. ADOPTING

AS MODIFIED IN PART, AND

DECLINING TO ADOPT IN PART 

THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE

JUDGE;

(3) GRANTING RESPONDENT’S

MOTION TO DISMISS;

(4) DISMISSING PETITION FOR

WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS; and

(5) ISSUING A LIMITED

CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY

vs.

LARRY SMALL, Warden, et al.,

Respondents.

Petitioner is a California prisoner proceeding pro se with a First Amended Petition for a

Writ of Habeas Corpus (“Petition”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (ECF No. 4.) Petitioner

alleges his federal Constitutional rights were violated in connection to a January 19, 2008, prison

disciplinary hearing at which he was found guilty of distribution of a controlled substance. (Id.

at 1-8.) Respondent has filed a Motion to Dismiss the Petition on the ground that it was filed

after expiration of the one-year statute of limitations set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). (ECF

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No. 19.) Petitioner has filed an Opposition arguing that the Petition is timely, and, alternately,

that he is entitled to equitable tolling of the limitations period. (ECF No. 25.)

Presently before the Court is a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) submitted by

United States Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal. (ECF No. 28.) The Magistrate Judge found 

that equitable tolling was unavailable, and that although partial statutory tolling was available,

the Petition was untimely; the Magistrate Judge recommended that Respondent’s motion to

dismiss be granted, the Petition be dismissed, and the Court decline to issue a Certificate of

Appealability. (Id.) 

On March 29, 2012, the Court entered judgment adopting in part and declining to adopt

in part the findings and conclusions of United States Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal,

granting Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss, dismissing the Petition as untimely, and issuing a

limited Certificate of Appealability. (ECF No. 36.) The same day judgment was entered,

Petitioner filed Objections to the Report and Recommendation; however, the Objections were

not docketed until the following day. (ECF No. 37.) Although Petitioner timely filed his

Objections, the Court did not consider them prior to entering judgment due to a clerical mistake

or oversight. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 60(a), the Court hereby VACATES the March 29,

2012 Judgment. 

The Court has reviewed the R&R and Petitioner’s Objections pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

§ 636(b)(1), which provides that: “A judge of the court shall make a de novo determination of

those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which

objection is made. A judge of the court may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the

findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 

1. Background

Petitioner, who was incarcerated at the time, was found guilty of distribution of a

controlled substance on January 19, 2008, following a prison disciplinary hearing. (Pet. Ex. C

[ECF No. 1-2 at 7].) The administrative appeal process ended on December 2, 2008, when his

administrative appeal was denied at the Director’s level of review. (Pet. Ex. Z [ECF No. 1-4 at

49-51].) Petitioner constructively filed a state habeas petition in the superior court on August

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6, 2009.1 (Resp.’s Lodgment No. 1.) That petition was denied without prejudice on September

9, 2009, for failure to comply with California Rule of Court 4.551, which requires habeas

petitions to be submitted on an approved Judicial Council form. (Resp.’s Lodgment No. 2.) 

Petitioner re-submitted his habeas petition to the superior court on December 9, 2009. 

(Resp.’s Lodgment No. 3.) On February 2, 2010, the superior court denied the petition on the

merits of the claims presented; the court noted that the petition had been filed nearly a year after

Petitioner had exhausted his administrative remedies, but explicitly excused the delay because

of the previous procedural denial. (Resp.’s Lodgment No. 4.) Petitioner filed his next state

habeas petition in the appellate court on March 23, 2010, which was denied on April 20, 2010,

as untimely (noting that Petitioner “has not explained the delay in seeking habeas corpus relief”),

and on the merits. (Resp.’s Lodgment Nos. 5-6.) His final state habeas petition was filed in the

state supreme court on May 24, 2010, and was summarily denied on June 30, 2010, without

citation of authority or a statement of reasoning. (Resp.’s Lodgment Nos. 7-8.) The instant

federal habeas action was initiated on July 26, 2010, the date Petitioner indicates he handed his

Petition to the prison officials for mailing to the Court. (ECF No. 1 at 11.)

Respondent contends that the one-year statute of limitations applicable to federal habeas

cases began to run on December 3, 2008, the day after Petitioner exhausted his administrative

remedies, and that it expired about one week before Petitioner filed his first “properly filed” state

habeas petition in the superior court on December 9, 2009. (MTD at 3-4.) Respondent contends

that Petitioner is not entitled to statutory tolling as a result of the August 6, 2009, superior court

petition which was denied on procedural grounds, because it was not “properly filed.” (Id.) 

Thus, Respondent argues that because Petitioner did not begin his first round of state postconviction review until after the limitations period had expired, statutory tolling is not available. 

(Id.) Respondent alternately contends that even if statutory tolling began on August 6, 2009, and

ran for the entire state post-conviction review process, which ended on June 30, 2010, Petitioner

1

 Petitioner is entitled to the benefit of the “mailbox rule” which provides for constructive

filing of court documents as of the date they are submitted to the prison authorities for mailing to the

court. Anthony v. Cambra, 236 F.3d 568, 574-75 (9th Cir. 2000). The Court will use the constructive

filing dates throughout this Order.

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had seven days remaining on the limitations period at that point, but filed his federal Petition on

July 26, 2010, twenty-six days later. (Id. at 5.)

Petitioner replies that the one-year statute of limitations did not begin to run until midNovember 2009, when his legal materials, which had been taken from him by prison officials

on February 18, 2009, were returned. (Opp. at 7.) Petitioner also contends that he is entitled to

equitable tolling of the limitations period for the time he was dispossessed of his legal materials

and deprived of access to the prison law library. (Id. at 5.) Respondent has not replied to the

arguments Petitioner has presented in his Opposition.

The Magistrate Judge found that the limitations period began to run on December 3, 2008,

the day after Petitioner exhausted his administrative remedies. (R&R at 4.) The Magistrate

Judge found that Petitioner was entitled to statutory tolling from December 9, 2009, the date his

“properly filed” superior court habeas petition was filed, until June 30, 2010, when the state

supreme court denied the final state habeas petition. (Id. at 5.) The Magistrate Judge found that

statutory tolling did not begin on August 6, 2009, the date the first superior court habeas petition

was filed, because that petition was denied on procedural grounds and was therefore not

“properly filed,” but that even if it was, the Petition is untimely because Petitioner had only

seven days left on the limitations period when statutory tolling would have ended under that

scenario, but he waited twenty-seven days to file his federal Petition. (Id.) Finally, the

Magistrate Judge found that Petitioner was not entitled to equitable tolling. (Id. at 5-9.)

2. Triggering Date for the Statute of Limitations

The one-year statute of limitations applicable to federal habeas petitions pursuant to 28

U.S.C. § 2254 begins to run at the latest of— 

(A) the date on which the judgment became final by the

conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking

such review;

(B) the date on which the impediment to filing an application

created by State action in violation of the Constitution or laws of the

United States is removed, if the applicant was prevented from filing

by such State action;

 (C) the date on which the constitutional right asserted was

initially recognized by the Supreme Court, if the right has been 

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newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made retroactively

applicable to cases on collateral review; or

 (D) the date on which the factual predicate of the claim or

claims presented could have been discovered through the exercise

of due diligence.

28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d)(1)(A)-(D) (West 2006). 

Respondent contends that the triggering date should be calculated under § 2244(d)(1)(D), 

and is December 2, 2008, the date Petitioner’s administrative appeal of the prison disciplinary

proceedings became final. (MTD at 3-4, citing Redd v. McGrath, 343 F.3d 1077, 1080-83 (9th

Cir. 2003) (holding that § 2244(d)(1)(D) applies where a prison administrative decision is

challenged, and is triggered by the exhaustion of administrative remedies).) Petitioner replies

that the triggering date should be calculated under § 2244(d)(1)(B), the date the state-created

impediment to his filing a state habeas petition was lifted. (Opp. at 6.) Petitioner identifies that

date as sometime in mid-November 2009, when his legal materials, which were taken away

when he was placed in administrative segregation on February 18, 2009, were finally returned

to him. (Id. at 6-7.) The Magistrate Judge incorrectly found that the parties do not dispute the

date the limitations period began to run. (R&R at 4.) Petitioner objects to that finding and

repeats his argument that § 2244(d)(1)(B) applies here. (Obj. at 4-5.) The Court declines to

adopt the Magistrate Judge’s finding. Rather, if the one-year statute of limitations began to run

in mid-November 2009, as Petitioner contends, then the Petition, which was constructively filed

on July 26, 2010, is timely even without tolling of the limitations period. The Court will

determine the triggering date for the statute of limitations in the first instance.

In support of his argument that the dispossession of his legal materials by the prison

authorities constituted a state-created impediment to filing, Petitioner relies on and incorporates

his arguments in support of equitable tolling. (See Opp. at 7.) In support of equitable tolling,

Petitioner contends that he was without his personal legal materials from February 18, 2009,

until sometime in mid-November 2009. (Id. at 4-5.) He argues that when the limitations period

was about to expire, he was “prevented from timely accessing the prison law library to conduct

essential research of case law authority needed to buttress his petition’s claims.” (Id. at 5.)

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The standard for satisfying § 2244(d)(1)(B) is “far higher” than the standard for

demonstrating an entitlement to equitable tolling. Ramirez v. Yates, 571 F.3d 993, 1000-01 (9th

Cir. 2009). Petitioner is entitled to rely on § 2244(d)(1)(B) only if the circumstances alleged

“altogether prevented him from presenting his claims in any form, to any court.” Id., citing

Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 350-51 (1996). Here, Petitioner has not shown that the inability

to visit the prison law library and the temporary dispossession of his legal materials prevented

him from presenting his claims in any form to any court. Rather, for the same reasons set forth

in the R&R regarding why Petitioner is not entitled to equitable tolling, (see R&R at 5-9), which

as set forth below the Court adopts and expands upon, Petitioner cannot satisfy § 2244(d)(1)(B),

which requires a far higher showing. Yates, 571 F.3d at 1000-01. 

Accordingly, based on a de novo review, the Court finds that the one-year statute of

limitations began to run on December 3, 2008, the day after Petitioner completed exhaustion of

his administrative remedies. Redd, 343 F.3d at 1080-83; Patterson v. Stewart, 251 F.3d 1243,

1246 (9th Cir. 2001). Because the instant federal Petition was filed on July 26, 2010, well over

a year later, it is untimely unless the limitations period was tolled.

3. Statutory Tolling

The statute of limitations is tolled while a “properly filed” habeas petition is “pending”

in state court. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2). As set forth above, although Petitioner began exhausting

his state court remedies by filing a state habeas petition in the superior court on August 6, 2009,

that petition was denied on the basis that it had not been submitted in compliance with state rules

requiring that state habeas petitions be submitted on a proper form. Petitioner re-filed that

petition on December 9, 2009, just over a year after the limitations period began to run on

December 3, 2008. Thus, unless the first superior court habeas petition filed on August 6, 2009,

was “properly filed,” or unless Petitioner is entitled to at least six days of equitable tolling (see

discussion below), statutory tolling is not available because Petitioner would have initiated his

properly filed state habeas proceedings after expiration of the limitations period. See Jiminez

v. Rice, 276 F.3d 478, 482 (9th Cir. 2001) (holding that state post-conviction petition which was

filed after expiration of the statute of limitations cannot toll the limitations period). 

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The Magistrate Judge found that the first superior court habeas petition, which was

dismissed for failure to use a proper form, was not “properly filed.” (R&R at 5, citing Artuz v.

Bennett, 531 U.S. 4, 8 (2000) (holding that “an application is ‘properly filed’ when its delivery

and acceptance [by the appropriate court officer for placement into the record] are in compliance

with the applicable laws and rules governing filings.”)) The Court agrees with the Magistrate

Judge and adopts that finding. However, even assuming that first superior court habeas petition

was properly filed, for the following reasons, statutory tolling does render the Petition timely.

The Magistrate Judge found that Petitioner was entitled to statutory tolling from

December 9, 2009, when he re-filed his superior court state habeas petition (which was not

rejected), until June 30, 2010, when the state supreme court denied his final state habeas petition. 

(R&R at 5.) The Court declines to adopt that finding for two reasons. First, the statute of

limitations expired on December 3, 2009, and any subsequent state habeas proceeding could not

toll an expired limitations period. Second, even if the first properly filed state superior court

habeas petition tolled the limitations period, the habeas petition filed in the state appellate court

was denied as untimely, as well as on the merits. (Resp.’s Lodgment No. 6.) In Carey v.

Saffold, 536 U.S. 214 (2002), the Court held that the time between the denial of a petition in a

lower California court and the filing of a subsequent petition in the next higher state court does

not toll the statute of limitations (i.e., an application for post-conviction relief is not “pending”

during the interstitial periods while one is pursuing a full round of state collateral review) if the

petition is untimely. Id. at 223-26. In Pace v. DiGuglielmo, 544 U.S. 408 (2005), the Court also

held that statutory tolling is not available for the period a petition is under consideration (i.e., an

application for post-conviction relief is not “properly filed”) if it is untimely, even if the state

court also addressed the merits. Id. at 413-14. Accordingly, because the appellate court habeas

petition was untimely, the Court declines to adopt the Magistrate Judge’s finding that Petitioner

was entitled to statutory tolling for the period it was pending, or for the interstitial period after

the superior court’s denial and the filing of appellate court petition.

The same is true with respect to the state supreme court habeas petition. In Evans v.

Chavis, 546 U.S. 189 (2006), the Court held that in the absence of a clear indication by the state

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supreme court that a petition is untimely, the federal court “must itself examine the delay in each

case and determine what the state courts would have held in respect to timeliness.” Id. at 198. 

In this case, the state supreme court denied the habeas petition without comment or citation of

authority. In the state petition form Petitioner used in both the state appellate and supreme

courts, on the line where Petitioner is asked to explain any delay in raising the claims within the

meaning of In re Swain, 34 Cal.2d 300, 304 (1949),2

 he wrote: “N/A.” (Resp.’s Lodgment No.

5 at 6; Resp.’s Lodgment No. 7 at 6.)

Lacking an indication from the state supreme court regarding timeliness, this Court must

examine the delay “and determine what the state courts would have held in respect to

timeliness.” Chavis, 546 U.S. at 198. Although the state superior court excused Petitioner’s

nearly one-year delay, the appellate court found the delay unjustified. Swain, 34 Cal.2d at 304;

In re Robbins, 18 Cal.4th 770, 805 (1998) (holding that a habeas claim “that is substantially

delayed will nevertheless be considered on the merits if the petitioner can demonstrate ‘good

cause’ for the delay.”) Because Petitioner provided no basis for a finding of good cause nor any

other excuse justifying the delay, the delay was “unreasonable” within the meaning of California

law, and the state supreme court habeas petition was neither “properly filed” nor “pending”

within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2). Chavis, 546 U.S. at 199-200; DiGuglielmo, 544

U.S. at 413-14 (holding that denial of petition by California Supreme Court as untimely

precludes statutory tolling); see also Walker v. Martin, 562 U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 1120, 1125-31

(2011) (holding that California’s timeliness requirement providing that a prisoner must seek

habeas relief without “substantial delay” as “measured from the time the petitioner or counsel

knew, or should reasonably have known, of the information offered in support of the claim and

the legal basis for the claim,” is clearly established and consistently applied), citing In re

Robbins, 18 Cal.4th at 805. Accordingly, the Court declines to adopt the Magistrate Judge’s

2

 At page 304 of the Swain opinion, the state supreme court states: “We are entitled to and we

do require of a convicted defendant that he allege with particularity the facts upon which he would have

a final judgment overturned and that he fully disclose his reasons for delaying in the presentation of

those facts. This procedural requirement does not place upon an indigent prisoner who seeks to raise

questions of the denial of fundamental rights in propria persona any burden of complying with

technicalities; it simply demands of him a measure of frankness in disclosing his factual situation.” 

Swain, 34 Cal.2d at 304.

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finding that Petitioner is entitled to statutory tolling for the period the state supreme court habeas

petition was pending, or for the time between the appellate court denial and the filing of the state

supreme court petition.

Thus, even assuming Petitioner’s first superior court habeas petition, which was denied

on the basis that it was not submitted on a proper form, was “properly filed,” or assuming, as

discussed below, that a brief period of equitable tolling caused the December 9, 2010, properly

filed superior court habeas petition to have been filed prior to expiration of the limitations

period, statutory tolling ended, at the very latest, when the superior court denied habeas relief

on February 2, 2010. Petitioner had allowed 246 days to elapse from when the limitations period

began to run on December 3, 2008, until he filed that first superior court habeas petition on

August 6, 2009, at which time he had 119 days remaining. 173 additional days elapsed after the

superior court denied habeas relief on February 2, 2010, before the instant federal Petition was

filed on July 26, 2010. As a result, even giving Petitioner the benefit of statutory tolling for his

superior court habeas proceedings, a net total of 419 days passed between when the one-year

statute of limitations began to run and when Petitioner initiated this proceeding. Accordingly,

statutory tolling does not aid Petitioner even if his first state habeas petition was properly filed.

4. Equitable Tolling

The statute of limitations is also subject to equitable tolling. Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S.

___, 130 S.Ct. 2549, 2560-63 (2010). However, a petitioner must show: “(1) that he has been

pursuing his rights diligently, and (2) that some extraordinary circumstance stood in his way and

prevented timely filing.” Id. at 2562. Petitioner bears the burden of showing “extraordinary

circumstances” were the proximate cause of his untimeliness, rather than merely a lack of

diligence on his part. Spitsyn v. Moore, 345 F.3d 796, 799 (9th Cir. 2003); Stillman v.

LaMarque, 319 F.3d 1199, 1203 (9th Cir. 2003). Equitable tolling “is unavailable in most

cases.” Miles v. Prunty, 187 F.3d 1104, 1107 (9th Cir. 1999). “[T]he threshold necessary to

trigger equitable tolling (under AEDPA) is very high, lest the exceptions swallow the rule.” 

Miranda v. Castro, 292 F.3d 1063, 1066 (9th Cir. 2002). 

/ / /

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The Magistrate Judge found that Petitioner was not diligent in pursuing his rights because

he had his legal materials with him from the time his administrative appeal was denied on

December 2, 2008, until February 18, 2009, when he was placed in AdSeg due to being found

in possession of a weapon, and that Petitioner did not allege that he requested access to his legal

materials while in AdSeg. (R&R at 6-7.) Rather, Petitioner waited until May 19, 2009, nearly

five and one-half months after the one-year statute of limitations began to run, before seeking

access to his legal materials. (Id. at 7.) The Magistrate Judge also found that Petitioner’s

allegations of negligent conduct by the prison officials in misplacing his legal materials, and the

temporary dispossession of legal materials which accompany ordinary incidents of prison life

such as being placed in AdSeg, did not rise to the level of intentional bad faith by prison officials

which has been found by the Ninth Circuit to support equitable tolling. (Id.) Rather, the

Magistrate Judge found that Petitioner could have initiated his state habeas proceedings during

the 78 days following the denial of his administrative appeal before he was placed in AdSeg, and

that Petitioner has not alleged facts indicating why he did not request access to his legal

materials while in AdSeg in order to work on his state habeas petition, thereby demonstrating

a lack of diligence. (Id. at 7-9.)

Petitioner Objects to these findings. He states that he did not request access to his legal

materials because he was aware that prison regulations did not permit such access while the

investigation regarding the charges which resulted in his placement in AdSeg was in process,

which he contends ended on March 13, 2009, 23 days after he was placed in AdSeg. (Obj. at

2.) Petitioner argues that because statutory tolling ended when the state supreme court denied

his final state habeas petition on June 30, 2010, at which time he contends he had about a week

remaining on the limitations period, and he filed the instant federal Petition on July 26, 2010,

those 23 days of equitable tolling are all he needs to render his petition timely. (Id.) However,

as set forth above, Petitioner is not entitled to statutory tolling for his state habeas proceedings,

except perhaps for the 56 days his properly filed state superior court habeas petition was pending

from December 9, 2009, to February 2, 2010, and that is only available assuming the limitations

period had not expired on December 3, 2009. That is, if Petitioner is given his 23 days of

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equitable tolling, the Petition is still untimely. It was, in fact, Petitioner’s lack of diligence in

pursuing his legal remedies in state court during the 78 days after his administrative appeal was

denied, during which he was in possession of his legal materials, which rendered his state habeas

petitions untimely and therefore unavailable to statutorily toll the federal limitations period.3

 

The Magistrate Judge correctly distinguished Espinoza-Matthews v. People of the State

of California, 432 F.3d 1021 (9th Cir. 2005), upon which Petitioner relies. In that case, the

petitioner was placed in AdSeg for his own protection, and the prison authorities denied him

access to his legal materials for nearly eleven months of the one-year limitations period,

allowing petitioner slightly over a month to prepare and file his federal habeas petition once his

legal papers were restored to him. Id. at 1027-28. Unlike Espinoza-Matthews, Petitioner here

had access to his legal materials for 78 days before he was placed in AdSeg, and could have

initiated his state habeas proceedings during that period in order to statutorily toll the federal

limitations period. Petitioner also apparently delayed another 67 days from March 13, 2009,

when he indicates the AdSeg investigation was over and he knew he was entitled to have his

legal materials returned to him, until May 19, 2009, when he states he requested their return. 

Thus, based on a de novo review, the Court finds that Petitioner’s temporary lack of access to

his legal materials was not the proximate cause of his failure to timely file the instant federal

Petition, and that Petitioner did not diligently pursue his rights in a manner necessary to support

equitable tolling. Holland, 130 S.Ct. at 2562; Spitsyn, 345 F.3d at 799. 

Accordingly, the Court adopts the Magistrate Judge’s findings and conclusions with

regard to equitable tolling as modified above. Because Petitioner is not entitled to equitable

tolling of the statute of limitations, the instant federal Petition is untimely for the reasons

discussed above. The Court therefore GRANTS Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss.

3

 The United States Supreme Court has stated that federal habeas courts should not treat California’s

timeliness rules as differing significantly from other states which consider petitions untimely after unexplained

delays of thirty or sixty days. Chavis, 546 U.S at 199-201, citing Carey v. Saffold, 536 U.S. 214, 219 (2002);

see also Walker, 131 S.Ct. at 1125-31 (holding that California’s timeliness requirement providing that a prisoner

must seek habeas relief without “substantial delay” as “measured from the time the petitioner or counsel knew,

or should reasonably have known, of the information offered in support of the claim and the legal basis for the

claim,” is clearly established and consistently applied), citing In re Robbins, 18 Cal.4th at 805 (holding that a

habeas claim “that is substantially delayed” will not be considered unless “the petitioner can demonstrate ‘good

cause’ for the delay.”) Petitioner has provided no explanation, here or to the state court, for the 78-day delay. 

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5. Conclusion and Order

The Court VACATES its March 29, 2012 Judgment, ADOPTS in part, ADOPTS in part

as modified, and DECLINES to adopt in part the findings and conclusions of the Magistrate

Judge as set forth in this Order, GRANTS Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss, and DISMISSES

the Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus as untimely under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The Court

ISSUES a Certificate of Appealability limited to the issue of equitable tolling. See Lambright

v. Stewart, 220 F.3d 1022, 1025 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding that a COA should issue where the

questions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further, and any doubts whether a

COA should issue are to be resolved in favor of petitioner).

The Clerk shall enter judgment accordingly.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: April 24, 2012

BARRY TED MOSKOWITZ, Chief Judge

United States District Court

-12- 10cv1639

Case 3:10-cv-01639-BTM-BGS Document 38 Filed 04/24/12 Page 12 of 12