UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION

KETJOL MANOKU,

Plaintiff,

v.

BLAINE LAFLER,

Defendant.

 /

Case No. 09-11511

Honorable Patrick J. Duggan

OPINION AND ORDER

 At a session of said Court, held in the U.S.

District Courthouse, Eastern District 

of Michigan, on November 17, 2010.

PRESENT: THE HONORABLE PATRICK J. DUGGAN

U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

On April 22, 2009, Ketjol Manoku (“Petitioner”), a state prisoner currently

incarcerated at the Chippewa Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, Michigan, filed a pro se

habeas corpus petition challenging his convictions for first-degree murder, conspiracy to

commit murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and felony-firearm. Petitioner is

serving a sentence of life imprisonment. On February 9, 2010, Petitioner moved to hold

his habeas petition in abeyance while he returned to state court to exhaust additional

claims. This Court granted his motion in an Order dated April 19, 2010, conditioning the

stay on Petitioner’s presenting his unexhausted claims to the trial court in a motion for

relief from judgment within ninety days. The Court stated that if Petitioner’s motion for
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relief from judgment was unsuccessful, he could move to lift the stay in this case and

amend his petition to add the exhausted claims, provided that he did so within ninety days

of exhausting state remedies.

In a letter to the Court dated October 18, 2010, Petitioner explains that he is working

toward filing his motion for relief from judgment. Petitioner claims that as a native of

Albania, he does not understand United States law, and therefore used the legal writers

program offered by the Michigan Department of Corrections. He asserts that his assigned

legal writer completed his motion on June 18, 2010, but that errors required redrafting. 

Petitioner claims that he has worked with several legal writers, and that delays occur each

time a writer is transferred out. Petitioner also claims he requires additional time because

his case involves approximately four thousand pages of transcripts. Petitioner seeks an

additional thirty days to prepare and file his motion for relief from judgment in state court,

claiming that he recently discovered a “winning issue where he can show a viable claim,

supported with evidence.”

The Supreme Court has endorsed the “stay and abeyance” approach to habeas cases

involving a mix of exhausted and unexhausted claims. Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269,

276-78, 125 S. Ct. 1528, 1534-35 (2005). The Court cautioned, however, that even where

stay and abeyance is appropriate, the timeliness concerns reflected in the Antiterrorism and

Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 limit a court’s discretion in structuring the stay. Id. at

277, 125 S. Ct. at 1535. A petition must not be stayed indefinitely, and “district courts

should place reasonable time limits on a petitioner’s trip to state court and back.” Id. at

278, 125 S. Ct. at 1535. A stay is unwarranted where the prisoner engages in “abusive
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litigation tactics or intentional delay.” Id.

Petitioner has demonstrated circumstances justifying an extension of the time for

filing his motion for relief from judgment. A brief extension is reasonable, given the

volume of materials involved in this case and the delays Petitioner claims in obtaining

legal writing assistance. Petitioner has not engaged in the sort of abusive or dilatory

tactics that would preclude such an extension. The Court therefore concludes that

Petitioner should be permitted the additional thirty days he seeks to present his claims.

Accordingly, Petitioner’s request for an additional thirty days to prepare and file his

motion for relief from judgment is GRANTED. The Court’s stay is conditioned on

Petitioner presenting his unexhausted claims to the trial court in a motion for relief from

judgment within thirty (30) days of the date of this Opinion and Order.

The Court reminds Petitioner that if he is unsuccessful in state court, he may move to

lift the stay in this case and amend his petition to add the exhausted claims, provided that

he does so within ninety (90) days of exhausting his state remedies.

s/PATRICK J. DUGGAN

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Copies to:

Ketjol Manoku, #597394

Chippewa Correctional Facility

4269 W. M-80 

Kincheloe, MI 49784

Mark G. Sands, Esq.