Source: http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20060406_0000470.MPA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-04-24 17:24:31
Document Index: 616139698

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2254', '§ 9541', '§ 2244', '§ 2254', '§ 2244', '§ 2244', '§ 9545', '§ 2254']

| Allen v. Nish
Allen v. Nish
THOMAS J. ALLEN, PETITIONER,v.JOSEPH P. NISH, RESPONDENT.
Thomas J. Allen is an inmate currently confined at the State Correctional Institution at Waymart, Pennsylvania. He filed this petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 on July 27, 2005. The required filing fee has been paid. Allen challenges his August 1998 conviction in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas on three counts of arson, which resulted in an aggregate term of imprisonment of 71/2 to 15 years.*fn1
On February 6, 2006, the Court sua sponte raised the issue of whether the statute of limitations barred consideration of the petition. See United States v. Bendolph, 409 F.3d 155 (3d Cir. 2005). Service of the petition was directed, and the parties were provided with an opportunity to address the issue of timeliness of the petition. (Dkt. Entry 5.) Respondent submitted his response and supporting exhibits regarding this issue on March 1, 2006. (Dkt. Entries 12.) Allen has not submitted a reply.
On August 5, 1998, Allen was sentenced to three consecutive terms of 30 to 60 months following a guilty plea on three counts of arson in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. He filed no direct appeal from his convictions and aggregate sentence of 71/2 to 15 years. He did, however, file a "Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Motion" with the sentencing court seeking reconsideration of his sentence. The motion was denied on September 10, 1998, without prejudice to Allen proceeding under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 9541-9546. (Dkt. Entry 1, Ex. C.)
Nearly two years later, on June 9, 2000, Allen filed a PCRA petition in state court. A hearing was held in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas on July 5, 2001. (Dkt. Entry 12, Response at 46 - 100, Transcript of Hearing.) The PCRA petition was denied the following day. (Dkt. Entry 1, Ex. D.) On or about September 25, 2002, fourteen (14) months following the denial of the PCRA petition, Allen filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. On December 2, 2002, the appeal was quashed as untimely. (Dkt. Entry 1, Ex. E, 12/2/02 Order of Pa. Super. Ct.) Allen thereafter waited until January 30, 2004, to pursue a petition for allowance of appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On February 27, 2004, he received a "Notice of Inactive Matter Closure" letter from the Supreme Court, advising him that the proceeding had been marked closed due to his failure to file a timely appeal. (Id., Ex. F.) Allen was further advised that the only way the matter could be appealed was for him to file a "Petition for Allowance of Appeal Nunc Pro Tunc." This avenue of relief was never pursued by Allen.
The record does reveal that at some point subsequent to the above events, Allen filed a document entitled "Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings" in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. On May 7, 2004, the Commonwealth Court transferred the matter to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. (Dkt. Entry 1, Ex. G, 5/7/04 Commw. Ct. Order.) On June 10, 2004, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a "Defective Notice," advising Allen that his petition did not comply with Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure and could not be accepted for filing. (Id., 6/10/04 Pa. Sup. Ct. Notice.) Allen was afforded twenty (20) days within which to perfect his appeal by submitting the proper forms and the required filing fee. It appears that Allen did thereafter follow the required procedures, and the matter was placed on the Miscellaneous Docket of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On September 2, 2004, Allen's
Application for Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, being treated as a Petition for Writ of Mandamus, was denied without opinion.
Allen filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus on July 27, 2005. In the petition he raises the following grounds: (1) ineffective assistance of trial counsel in failing to explain any defense, investigate medically induced condition, explain sentence, present evidence affecting sentence, object to sentence as violating Double Jeopardy, and failing to protect appeal rights; (2) unlawfully induced guilty plea; (3) double jeopardy violation by imposing multiple sentences consecutively; and (4) unavailability of favorable evidence at time of sentencing (due to trial counsel's failures).
Respondent seeks to dismiss the petition as untimely pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2244. A one-year limitations period governs a petition for habeas corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The limitations period begins to run from the date on which the judgment became final by the issuance of a final decision on direct appeal, or by the expiration of the time period for seeking such review. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A); see Morris v. Horn, 187 F.3d 333, 337, n.1 (3d Cir. 1999); Kapral v. United States, 166 F.3d 565, 575, 577 (3d Cir. 1999).
Allen did not file a direct appeal from his conviction. As such, the limitations period for filing a habeas corpus petition commenced when the time for filing a direct appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court expired, i.e., thirty (30) days after August 6, 1998, the date on which Allen was sentenced. See 42 Pa. C.S. § 9545(b)(3); Pa. R. App. P. 903. Accordingly, the limitations period commenced on or about September 5, 1998, and Allen had until September 5, 1999, to file his § 2254 petition. The instant petition was not filed until July 27, 2005.
The only way the instant petition can be deemed timely is if Allen is entitled to statutory or equitable tolling of the limitations period. Section 2244(d)(1)(B) provides that the limitations period is tolled during the pendency of an "impediment to filing an application created by State action in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States ..., if the applicant was prevented from ...