Case Name: Kenneth Bernard ROUSE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. R.C. LEE, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2003-01-07
Citations: 314 F.3d 698
Docket Number: No. 01-12
Parties: Kenneth Bernard ROUSE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. R.C. LEE, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: Before WILLIAMS, MOTZ, and KING, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: Federal Reporter 3d Series
Volume: 314
Pages: 698–721

Head Matter:
Kenneth Bernard ROUSE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. R.C. LEE, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 01-12.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Argued Sept. 24, 2002.
Decided Jan. 7, 2003.
ARGUED: Milton Gordon Widenhouse, Jr., Rudolf, Maher, Widenhouse & Fialko, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for Appellant. Clarence Joe DelForge, III, Assistant Attorney General, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Robert M. Hurley, Center for Death Penalty Litigation, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellant. Roy Cooper, Attorney General, William N. Farrell, Jr., Senior Deputy Attorney General, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Before WILLIAMS, MOTZ, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ wrote the opinion, in which Judge KING joined. Judge WILLIAMS wrote a dissenting opinion.
OPINION
DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Circuit Judge.
In this federal habeas petition, his first, Kenneth Bernard Rouse seeks relief on the ground, inter alia, that a juror who voted to convict and execute him deliberately concealed bias in order to win a seat on the jury. The district court held that Rouse's former lawyers filed this petition one day late and that Rouse presented no grounds for equitably tolling the applicable statute of limitations. Accordingly, the court dismissed Rouse's petition as untimely, denying him all federal habeas relief. Rouse appeals, challenging the determination that his petition was not timely filed and the refusal of equitable tolling. Although we agree that Rouse filed his petition one day late, given the exceptional circumstances in this case, we believe that the district court erred in refusing to toll the limitations period. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth within, we grant a certificate of appealability, vacate the judgment of the district court, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I.
At the outset, we emphasize the extremely early stage and sparse record of this case as it reaches us. The district court denied Rouse's petition as untimely on the basis of a record that did not even include the decision of the state post-conviction court, the dispositive decision for federal habeas review. We do not suggest any irregularity in this omission. The ha-beas rules only require the government to submit the state post-conviction court's decision at a later stage of the litigation. See Fed. R. Governing Section 2254 Cases 2, 5. Nevertheless, the record presented to the district court was sparse indeed.
That limited record reveals that a North Carolina jury convicted Rouse, an African-American, of the brutal first degree murder, armed robbery, and attempted rape of a sixty-three-year-old white woman, Hazel Colleen Broadway. The same all-white jury then sentenced Rouse to death. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court of North Carolina affirmed Rouse's conviction and sentence. See State v. Rouse, 339 N.C. 59, 451 S.E.2d 543 (1994).
The record further reveals that, at some time after sentencing, Rouse discovered new evidence that the mother of one member of the jury that decided his fate had been sexually assaulted and murdered, also in connection with a robbery, by a man who was later executed for her murder. When all prospective jurors were asked for such information at voir dire, the victim's son had remained silent.
After serving on Rouse's jury, this juror allegedly stated that he had intentionally concealed his mother's tragic death and carefully crafted his other responses to voir dire questions, because he wanted to be on the jury that judged Rouse. Moreover, this juror assertedly expressed intense racial prejudice against African-Americans, calling them "niggers" and opining that African-Americans care less about life than white people do, and that African-American men rape white women in order to brag to their friends. Because the juror did not reveal his own family's tragedy or his apparent deep-seated racial prejudice, Rouse had no opportunity to object to the juror or challenge his ability to judge and sentence Rouse impartially.
Rouse collaterally attacked the state court judgment, citing this juror bias, inter alia, by timely filing a motion for appropriate relief in state court. Without a hearing, the state court denied post-conviction relief, but the Supreme Court of North Carolina granted certiorari and remanded the case for reconsideration. See State v. Rouse, 348 N.C. 508, 510 S.E.2d 669 (N.C. 1998). The state post-conviction court again denied relief without holding a hearing, and the Supreme Court of North Carolina denied Rouse's second petition for certiorari on February 5, 1999. Rouse did not seek rehearing of this second denial in the state supreme court.
On February 8, 2000, Rouse filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, pursuing a number of claims. In particular, he contended that the juror's racial bias and personal prejudice based on his family history had denied Rouse his right to a fair and impartial jury under the Sixth Amendment.
The State moved to dismiss the petition as untimely, under the one-year statutory deadline set forth in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). See 28 TJ.S.C.A. § 2244(d) (West Supp. 2002). Reviewing the motion, a magistrate judge noted that because AEDPA's deadline fell on Saturday, February 5, 2000, see id. § 2244(d), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a) extended the deadline to the next working day, Monday, February 7, 2000. See Hernandez v. Caldwell, 225 F.3d 435, 439 (4th Cir.2000). The magistrate judge therefore concluded that the petition filed on Tuesday, February 8 was late-but only one day late. The magistrate judge nevertheless rejected Rouse's equitable tolling arguments, and recommended that the district court grant the State's motion to dismiss. The district court accepted the recommendation, dismissed the petition, and denied a certificate of appealability.
II.
The Supreme Court has directed that when, as here, a district court "denies a habeas petition on procedural grounds without reaching the prisoner's underlying constitutional claim, a COA [certificate of appealability] should issue when the prisoner shows, at least, that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right and that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its procedural ruling." Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000). Thus, "[d]etermining whether a COA should issue where the petition was dismissed on procedural grounds has two components, one directed at the underlying constitutional claims and one directed at the district court's procedural holding;" each is part of a "threshold inquiry." Id. at 484-85, 120 S.Ct. 1595.
Rouse, like the petitioner in Slack, "did not attempt to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right, instead arguing only that the District Court's procedural rulings were wrong." Id. at 485, 120 S.Ct. 1595. In Slack, moreover, because the constitutional claim "was neither briefed nor presented below," the Supreme Court confined its inquiry to the "second component" of the COA analysis, i.e. "whether jurists of reason could conclude that the District Court's dismissal on procedural grounds was debatable or incorrect." Id. Given the responsibilities that immediate appellate courts shoulder under the COA framework, however, it seems prudent to follow the approach of our sister circuits and take a "quick look" at Rouse's constitutional claims to determine if any of these claims "facially allege the 'denial of a constitutional right'." Jefferson v. Welborn, 222 F.3d 286, 289 (7th Cir.2000); see also Mateo v. United States, 310 F.3d 39, 41 (1st Cir.2002); Valerio v. Crawford, 306 F.3d 742, 767 (9th Cir.2002) (en banc). If we could conclude that all of his underlying constitutional claims were "utterly without merit, we could affirm the dismissal on that alternative ground." Jefferson, 222 F.3d at 289. Thus, the "quick look" approach "reflects the same impulse as Slack to protect nascent constitutional claims" yet quickly dismiss all habeas petitions that clearly do not meet the COA standard. Mateo, 310 F.3d at 41.
Applying a "quick look" to the limited record before us reveals that at least one of Rouse's claims — the allegations of juror bias — facially alleges the denial of a constitutional right. For this reason, at the very least, "jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right," Slack, 529 U.S. at 484, 120 S.Ct. 1595, and so we cannot deny a COA on the ground that Rouse has failed to state a valid constitutional claim. Accordingly, we turn our attention to the second threshold inquiry: whether the district court "was correct in its procedural ruling." Id.
Rouse contends that both the district court's holding that his habeas petition was not timely and the court's refusal to toll the statute of limitations were incorrect. We consider each of these contentions in turn.
III.
According to Rouse, the district court committed two separate legal errors in ruling that he filed his petition late.
A.
Initially, Rouse maintains that, although the Supreme Court of North Carolina denied certiorari on February 5, 1999, his state post-conviction review remained "pending" under the AEDPA past that date, delaying the start of the one-year period in which he could have filed a timely petition. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d)(2); Hernandez, 225 F.3d at 439. He provides two theories to support this view.
Rouse first contends that his motion for appropriate relief remained pending for twenty days after certiorari was denied, until February 25, 1999, because North Carolina procedural rules state that an appellate mandate should issue twenty days after an opinion. North Carolina Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(b) provides that "[ujnless a court orders otherwise, its clerk shall enter judgment and issue the mandate of the court 20 days after the written opinion of the court has been filed with the clerk." N.C. R.App. P. 32(b). Rouse claims that the mandate did not issue on the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in his case until February 25— but he has submitted no evidence that any mandate ever issued in his case. In fact, as the clerk of the Supreme Court of North Carolina explained in an affidavit, the general practice of that court is that Rule 32(b) mandates do not issue after summary denials of certiorari, such as the order in which the court denied certiorari in Rouse's case. Cf. Felton v. Barnett, 912 F.2d 92, 95 (4th Cir.1990) (concluding that a "denial of certiorari [from the Supreme Court of North Carolina] is not to be given the effect of a judgment on the merits" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). We agree with Rouse that the inapplicability of Rule 32(b) is less than clear, and that he could hardly be expected to know the practice of the clerk's office. In the absence of evidence that a mandate issued in Rouse's case, however, and given the uncontroverted testimony that the court generally does not issue a Rule 32(b) mandate after denying certiorari, Rouse has not shown that Rule 32(b) extended the period in which his post-conviction motion was "pending" in state court.
Rouse also argues that his post-conviction review remained pending during the period in which he could have sought rehearing from the Supreme Court of North Carolina. North Carolina law does not support this claim. Petitions for rehearing were not (and are not) available in criminal matters, see N.C. R.App. P. 31(g), and a North Carolina statute declares that a motion for appropriate relief is part of the original action. See N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-1411(b) (2001). In Rouse's case, the original action was his criminal trial, and so there was no period in which he could have sought rehearing. Rouse points out that the Supreme Court of North Carolina "has used its discretionary authority to reconsider denials of petitions in capital cases." Reply Brief at 10. In his case, however, he did not seek such review, and the Supreme Court of North Carolina did not choose to reconsider its own denial. Rule 31, like Rule 32(b), thus does not extend the pendency of Rouse's motion for state post-conviction review.
B.
Rouse bases his second timeliness argument on the "mailbox rule" contained in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(e). He argues that this rule extended by three days the deadline for filing his habeas petition.
Rule 6(e) adds three days to a prescribed period "[w]henever a party has the right or is required to do some act or take some proceedings within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon the party and the notice or paper is served upon the party" by mail or other means allowed under the rule. Fed. R.Civ.P. 6(e) (2002). But the AEDPA's limitations period begins to run when a state court denies a petition for certiorari, not when a petitioner receives notice of the denial. See Geraci v. Senkowski, 211 F.3d 6, 9 (2d Cir.2000); see also Spencer v. Sutton, 239 F.3d 626, 627-29 (4th Cir.2001). (Again, we recognize the facial plausibility of Rouse's theory, as the opinions we cite on this point did not issue until after Rouse had filed his petition-but that does not limit their applicability to his case.) Moreover, although total lack of notice of a state court's denial of relief may assist a habeas petitioner under some circumstances, see Knight v. Schofield, 292 F.3d 709, 711 (11th Cir.2002); Hollins v. Dep't of Corrs., 191 F.3d 1324, 1326-28 (11th Cir.1999), Rouse had actual notice of the state court's denial in the early days of the one-year period in which he could have timely filed his petition.
We thus conclude that the district court correctly held that Rouse's petition was filed one day late. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d) (imposing a one-year statute of limitations); Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(a) (extending a deadline that falls on a non-working day to the next working day); Hernandez, 225 F.3d at 437 (noting that "for prisoners whose convictions became final prior to AEDPA's enactment, the limitations period began to run with AEDPA's effective date"); id. at 439 (applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a) to habeas petitions). Rouse's counsel apparently relied on two plausible, but ultimately untenable, legal theories to commit an error with devastating consequences.
IV.
Alternatively, Rouse maintains that, in light of his former counsel's incompetence, the lack of clarity as to when the limitations period began, the brevity of the delay in filing the petition, the lack of prejudice to the State, the compelling nature of his juror bias claim, and the death sentence he faces, the district court incorrectly refused to toll the statute of limitations by one day. "We review de novo the district court's decision not to apply the doctrine of equitable tolling inasmuch as the [relevant] facts in this case are undisputed and the district court determined as a matter of law that there were no grounds that would justify equitable tolling in [this] ease." Dunlap v. United States, 250 F.3d 1001, 1007 (6th Cir.2001) (citation omitted); see, e.g., Spencer, 239 F.3d at 629-31 (applying de novo review to a legal issue in equitable tolling analysis and holding that "the district court erred [rather than abused its discretion] in not tolling the statute of limitations for the entire period from Spencer's initial filing of his second MAR on April 23, 1997, until its final disposition on January 13, 1999"); Harris v. Hutchinson, 209 F.3d 325, 330-31 (4th Cir.2000) (applying de novo review in equitable tolling analysis).
"Equitable tolling is a background rule that informs . construction of federal statutes of limitations...." Raygor v. Regents of Univ. of Minn., 534 U.S. 533, 122 S.Ct. 999, 1010 n. 5, 152 L.Ed.2d 27 (2002) (Stevens, J., dissenting). In imposing a statute of limitations on federal habeas petitions in the AEDPA, Congress must have accepted the possibility that some cases would receive no federal habeas review. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d). But like every circuit to consider the question, we have concluded that Congress did not eliminate a court's equitable power to toll the statute in the interest of justice, and that the AEDPA's statute of limitations is subject to equitable tolling. See Harris, 209 F.3d at 329-30 (so holding and collecting cases); see also Dunlap, 250 F.3d at 1007 (so holding); Allen v. Mitchell, 276 F.3d 183, 187 n. 3 (4th Cir.2001) (noting that "the statute of limitations established by § 2244(d) is not jurisdictional"). Thus, in appropriate cases, equitable tolling of the AEDPA's limitations period is within a court's power.
Several factors would seem to support tolling in this case. Rouse has diligently pursued every previous avenue of review available to him. Cf., e.g., Spencer, 239 F.3d at 630 (finding "delay[ ] at every juncture of [Spencer's] post-plea, state and federal proceedings"). Moreover, the record reveals that Rouse himself neither knew of nor consented to a late filing of his federal habeas petition, and no evidence suggests that the late filing was a tactical decision of counsel. Rather, Rouse's former counsel confronted last-minute difficulties and, without Rouse's knowledge, made an appalling error in calculating the limitations period. Furthermore, the State has made no showing that it has been prejudiced in any way by the one-day delay in the filing of Rouse's first habeas petition, and it is hard to imagine that such a showing could be made.
If Rouse had offered only these reasons, however, our precedent might well have foreclosed the application of equitable tolling in this case. We have held that a "mistake by a party's counsel in interpreting a statute of limitations does not present the extraordinary circumstance beyond the party's control where equity should step in to give the party the benefit of his erroneous understanding." See Harris, 209 F.3d at 331; accord Spencer, 239 F.3d at 628-29. But we reached this conclusion in non-capital cases, involving greater delay, and far less compelling habeas claims that had received at least one hearing in state court. Id. Moreover, in so holding, we expressly recognized that equitable tolling is "a discretionary doctrine that turns on the facts and circumstances of a particular case" and, therefore, "does not lend itself to bright-line rules." Harris, 209 F.3d at 330 (quoting Fisher v. Johnson, 174 F.3d 710, 713 (5th Cir.1999)). Indeed, we explained that, although some statutes of limitations "serve[ ] policy interests that would be adversely affected if the statutory limitations provisions were not strictly adhered to," the habeas context is different, warranting greater flexibility in the application of the AEDPA's statute of limitations. Id. at 329 (emphasis added).
Thus, in determining whether to exercise its equitable power to toll the statute of limitations here, the district court was required under Harris to consider the particular "facts and circumstances" of Rouse's case. They are compelling. Rouse filed his petition only one day late. Cf. Spencer, 239 F.3d at 631 (five days late); Harris, 209 F.3d at 328 (six months late). Although the petition was late, his counsel's disastrous error rested on plausible, albeit incorrect, legal theories, some of which have since been clarified. See Fahy v. Horn, 240 F.3d 239, 245 (3d Cir.2001) (noting lack of clarity in the relevant law and plausibility of a petitioner's legal theory in equitably tolling the AEDPA), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 944, 122 S.Ct. 323, 151 L.Ed.2d 241 (2001). Moreover, Rouse has never received a hearing on his habeas claims, in any forum — state or federal. Cf. Spencer, 239 F.3d at 627-28 (two evidentiary hearings in state court); Brief for Appellant in Harris, 209 F.3d 325, at 326 (evidentiary hearing in state court). Without equitable tolling, he will lose any hope of receiving such a hearing and will be afforded no federal habeas review at all.
Furthermore, Rouse presents what must be considered on its face a powerful constitutional claim: that a juror's personal vengeance and racial bias infected his death sentence. To date, he has never received, even post-sentence, any opportunity to explore at a hearing — before any court — the evidence that one of his jurors harbored an invidious prejudice against African-Americans, the evidence as to the potential effect of the sexual assault and murder of the juror's mother on his impartiality, or the evidence that in fact the juror concealed active bias — all matters that may require credibility determinations. If proved, these facts support a strong constitutional claim. See Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719, 728, 112 S.Ct. 2222, 119 L.Ed.2d 492 (1992) (reviewing the "strictures dictated by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to ensure the impartiality of any jury that will undertake capital sentencing" (emphasis omitted)); McDonough Power Equip., Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 556, 104 S.Ct. 845, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984); Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182, 190-91, 101 S.Ct. 1629, 68 L.Ed.2d 22 (1981); Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961). To be sure, the State presented sufficient evidence to prove Rouse guilty of these terrible crimes, and a federal court might conclude that Rouse's habeas claims, including his juror bias claim, lack merit even with respect to his sentencing — but at present, no federal court has ever examined any of his habeas claims.
Moreover, the sentence that is assertedly tainted by racial and personal bias is a death sentence. Until today, we have not had occasion to consider equitable tolling in a habeas case involving a sentence of death. Cf. Spencer, 239 F.3d at 627 (life sentence); Harris, 209 F.3d at 326 (same). We have, however, implicitly recognized that the presence of a death sentence affects the equitable tolling analysis. Thus, in holding that equitable tolling is proper under the AEDPA, we have cited, with approval, the statement that although in some contexts, strict limitations rules may have to yield "occasional injustices" "in order to maintain a workable regime," these "occasional injustices . are. decidedly not an acceptable cost of doing business in death penalty cases." Harris, 209 F.3d at 329 (citing Calderon v. United States Dist. Court for the Cent. Dist. of Cal. (Beeler), 128 F.3d 1283, 1288 n. 4 (9th Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted; emphasis added), over ruled, on other grounds, 163 F.3d 530 (9th Cir.1998) (en banc)).
The fact is that death is different. The phrase itself is timeworn and familiar— because it is true. Like the Supreme Court, we must recognize that "in its finality," death "differs more from life imprisonment than a 100-year prison term differs from one of only a year or two." Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 305, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976) (plurality opinion). For this reason, the death penalty presents different and far more serious concerns than any other sanction. See, e.g., Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 2441, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002) ("[T]here is no doubt that '[d]eath is different.' " (citation omitted)); Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 357, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 51 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977) (stating that "death is a different kind of punishment") (opinion of Stevens, Stewart, and Powell, JJ.); see also Bracy v. Schomig, 286 F.3d 406, 415 (7th Cir.2002) (en banc) ("[W]e are again mindful that death is indeed different."), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 123 S.Ct. 169, 154 L.Ed.2d 161 (2002). In short, the conclusion "that 'death is different' . mean[s] that the firm view of our society demands that it be treated differently in certain identifiable respects.... " Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 877-78, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702 (1988) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
The Supreme Court has emphasized that courts, at all levels, considering the deliberate infliction of death are to act with particular care. The Court has insisted that "the qualitative difference of death from all other punishments requires a correspondingly greater degree of scrutiny of the capital sentencing determination," that is, "the procedure by which the State imposes the death sentence," to "ensur[e] that the death penalty is not meted out arbitrarily or capriciously." California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 998-99, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171 (1983) (emphasis in original); accord Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 995, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991); Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 329, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985); see also Bracy, 286 F.3d at 412 ("Like all others sentenced to death, Bracy and Collins are entitled to our painstaking review of their convictions and death sentence because, as the Supreme Court has often recognized, death is different." (citation omitted)).
Indeed, the Supreme Court itself has been willing "in the interests of justice" to overlook requirements that it would ordinarily impose in non-capital cases. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 117 n. *, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982) (O'Connor, J., concurring) (quoting Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261, 265 n. 5, 101 S.Ct. 1097, 67 L.Ed.2d 220 (1981)). For example, the Court has treated the requirement that an argument be raised below, ordinarily a prerequisite for appellate review, as merely "technical [ ]." Id. (O'Connor, J., concur ring in the Court's reversal of a death sentence, despite a dissenting argument that the contention had been waived below, "[bjecause the trial court's failure . risks erroneous imposition of the death sentence") (citation omitted); see id. at 105, 113 n. 9, 102 S.Ct. 869 (majority opinion) (reversing a death sentence while citing Wood, 450 U.S. at 265 n. 5, 101 S.Ct. 1097 (overlooking failure to raise an argument below "in the interests of justice"), in partial response to the dissenting argument of waiver below); see also Dobbs v. Zant, 506 U.S. 357, 360, 113 S.Ct. 835, 122 L.Ed.2d 103 (1993) (Scalia, J., concurring) ("I am willing to make an exception from that [previously stated 'general' internal] rule in capital cases — but only where there is a realistic likelihood that the 'technical error' affected the conviction or the sentence." (emphasis added)). Confronting the particular demands of capital cases, the Supreme Court "has gone to extraordinary measures to ensure that the prisoner sentenced to be executed is afforded process that will guarantee, as much as is humanly possible, that the sentence was not imposed out of whim, passion, prejudice, or mistake." Eddings, 455 U.S. at 118, 102 S.Ct. 869 (O'Connor, J., concurring).
We look to the Court's example today. Like the Supreme Court, we acknowledge the special demands of cases in which a defendant stands sentenced to death. Given that this case, in which Rouse faces execution, involves the shortest possible delay in filing the habeas petition, a total lack of prejudice to the State, a petitioner who was diligent in all other regards, and habeas claims, including at least one apparently compelling constitutional claim, that will receive no federal habeas review and no hearing in any court if the limitations period is not tolled, we conclude that the district court's refusal to toll the limitations period was indeed "unconscionable." Harris, 209 F.3d at 330. If ever a case was suitable for an exercise of a court's discretion — the most minor exercise imaginable, a one-day tolling of a limitations period — surely, this is that case.
In reaching this conclusion, we have considered the limited impact of such a decision, both on our system of justice as a whole, and within this circuit. A number of systemic and legal concerns that are often at the heart of habeas jurisprudence on the merits have no relevance to equitable tolling. In particular, equitable tolling raises none of the concerns related to constitutional interpretation that are sometimes invoked in opposition to a " 'death-is-different' jurisprudence," Shafer v. South Carolina, 532 U.S. 36, 55, 121 S.Ct. 1263, 149 L.Ed.2d 178 (2001) (Scalia, J., dissenting); see Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154, 178-79, 114 S.Ct. 2187, 129 L.Ed.2d 133 (1994) (Scalia, J., joined by Thomas, J., dissenting), and it does not in any way affect the " 'standard of review on federal habeas corpus,' " because AED-PA's stringent standards of review of course still apply. Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 405, 113 S.Ct. 853, 122 L.Ed.2d 203 (1993) (quoting Murray v. Giarratano, 492 U.S. 1, 9, 109 S.Ct. 2765, 106 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) (plurality opinion)); see 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254(d), (e) (West Supp.2002). Similarly, equitable tolling of this federal deadline poses no threat of intrusion on a state's enforcement of its own procedural rules, cf. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991), on a state's legislative choices, cf. Murray, 492 U.S. at 13-15, 109 S.Ct. 2765 (O'Connor, J., concurring, and Kennedy, J., concurring in the judgment), or on the prerogatives of the executive branch. Cf. Ohio Adult Parole Auth. v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272, 276, 284-85, 118 S.Ct. 1244, 140 L.Ed.2d 387 (1998) (plurality opinion).
Nor do we see any cause to fear that within our own circuit, equitable tolling in Rouse's case might "loose the rule of law to whims about the adequacy of excuses, divergent responses to claims of hardship, and subjective notions of fair accommodation." Harris, 209 F.3d at 330. Of course, all non-capital petitions continue to be governed by Harris. Even in capital cases, the effect of tolling in this case will be slight, for several reasons.
Before or after a holding that limitations should be tolled in Rouse's case, a deliberate decision to file late — to gamble any chance of federal review of a capital petitioner's habeas claims in hopes that equity would slightly extend the deadline — would constitute recklessness of a nature and a magnitude that we decline to impute to our Bar. Thus, the limited precedent established by tolling in this case creates little incentive for habeas petitioners to file after the deadline. Furthermore, even if this were attempted, equitable tolling is "a discretionary doctrine that turns on the facts and circumstances of a particular case," id. at 330 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), and application of the doctrine will continue to depend on a court's confidence that "there is no evidence of abuse of the process." See Fahy, 240 F.3d at 245. Most importantly, the strength of the claims in a habeas petition obviously affects a court's decision to exercise its equitable power to toll limitations, and few petitioners present claims as facially compelling as Rouse's. See Lonchar v. Thomas, 517 U.S. 314, 320, 322, 325, 116 S.Ct. 1293, 134 L.Ed.2d 440 (1996) (emphasizing the distinction between habeas claims suitable for summary dismissal and those warranting more attention in reversing a lower court's employment of "special ad hoc 'equitable' reasons not encompassed within the framework" of the Habeas Corpus Rules to bar all consideration of a first federal capital habeas petition); cf. Spencer, 239 F.3d at 630 n. 2 (suggesting that petitioner's underlying habeas claim was weak when determining whether district court's tolling decision was correct). Because this is Rouse's first federal habe-as petition, moreover, a court must exercise great care before allowing it to be summarily dismissed. See Lonchar, 517 U.S. at 324, 116 S.Ct. 1293 ("Dismissal of a first federal habeas petition is a particularly serious matter, for that dismissal denies the petitioner the protections of the Great Writ entirely, risking injury to an important interest in human liberty." (emphasis in original)). Of course, in this case as in any other, the district court on remand remains free to dispose promptly of any claim that it determines lacks merit.
We note that other courts have tolled the AEDPA limitations period in cases involving more egregious delay. In a capital case involving a petition that was thirty-five days late due to attorney error in interpreting debatable procedural provisions, the Third Circuit tolled the precise statute at issue here. See Fahy, 240 F.3d at 245; accord Banks v. Horn, 271 F.3d 527, 534-35 (3d Cir.2001), rev'd on other grounds, 536 U.S. 266, 122 S.Ct. 2147, 153 L.Ed.2d 301 (2002) (applying equitable tolling in a capital case involving a petitioner convicted of murdering thirteen people). The court reasoned that a court "must allow less than 'extraordinary' circumstances to trigger equitable tolling of the AEDPA's statute of limitations when a [capital] petitioner has been diligent in asserting his or her claims and rigid application of the statute would be unfair." Id.; see also Corjasso v. Ayers, 278 F.3d 874 (9th Cir.2002) (tolling AEDPA's statute of limitations despite a procedural defect and listing cases); Lagrone v. Cockrell, 2002 WL 1968246, at *8-9 (N.D.Tex. Aug.19, 2002); Dejesus v. Miller, 215 F.Supp.2d 410, 412 (S.D.N.Y.2002). Like the Third Circuit, we believe it is appropriate that a court toll limitations "under the facts of this capital case where there is no evidence of abuse of the process." Fahy, 240 F.3d at 245; accord Banks, 271 F.3d at 535. In view of the facts and circumstances of this capital case, including the brevity of the delay and the apparently compelling nature of an underlying constitutional claim, to do otherwise would be "unconscionable" and might well result in "gross injustice." Harris, 209 F.3d at 330.
V.
Rouse faces his death with reason to believe that one of the twelve citizens entrusted with doing impartial justice in his case sought so eagerly to condemn him that the juror deliberately misled the court by hiding basic facts as to his particular bias against Rouse and his contempt for all African-Americans. In Rouse's interest and in the interest of justice, we will not allow one day's delay to rob a man on death row of all federal habeas review of such a serious and troubling claim. Although tolling will remain extremely infrequent even in capital cases, we must recognize the rare circumstance in which equity demands tolling.
For these reasons, we believe that the district court was incorrect in refusing to toll the statute of limitations by one day. Accordingly, we must grant a certificate of appealability. Whether Rouse can prove his allegations of juror bias, or any of his other underlying claims, remains to be seen. The district court must "make the first assessment of their underlying merit." Jefferson, 222 F.3d at 289; see also Mateo, 310 F.3d at 41-42. Therefore, we vacate the judgment of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
. In support of his contentions as to juror bias, Rouse submitted with his habeas petition an affidavit and a reported state case that partially corroborates a number of the details in the affidavit. See Ezzell v. State, 88 So.2d 280 (Fla.1956) (enbanc).
. Although the date of the published opinion is February 4, 1999, see State v. Rouse, 350 N.C. 104, 531 S.E.2d 830 (1999), the record reflects and the State concedes that the order was actually entered on February 5, 1999.
. The dissent notes that in Spencer and Harris, we did not "explicitly articulate or discuss the proper standard of review" in equitable tolling cases. Post at n. 4. That is true. However, any fair reading of Spencer and Harris leads to the inescapable conclusion that in both of those habeas cases we applied de novo review in holding that § 2244(d) should not be equitably tolled. To apply a different standard here would, therefore, be clearly contrary to circuit precedent.
. We reject Rouse's claim that his health supports tolling. Rouse's former counsel filed his habeas petition on February 8, 2000, and Rouse simply provides no reason why his medical condition barred filing only one day earlier.
. For reasons implicit in our earlier discussion of prejudice to the State, we reject a suggestion by the Fifth Circuit that the length of a petitioner's delay is not a relevant consideration in equitable tolling analysis. See Lookinghill v. Cockrell, 293 F.3d 256, 264-65 (5th Cir.2002), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Sept. 17, 2002) (No. 02-6969). A court considering equitable tolling should consider the length of a petitioner's delay, to ensure adequate attention to the possibility of prejudice to the State, in the case of lengthy delays, and to ensure fairness to the petitioner, in the case of very short ones.
. As noted above, the district court did not even have the opportunity to examine the decision of the state post-conviction court. That decision was submitted to us late in the appellate litigation of this case, after the case had been argued once. On examining it, we can only conclude that even if it had been before the district court, it would not have lessened the compelling nature of Rouse's juror bias claim at this preliminary stage. This is so because the state post-conviction court appears to have disposed of this claim, without a hearing, on the basis of a credibility determination. After noting "that the acoustics in the courtroom where defendant was tried sometimes makes hearing difficult," the state court concluded that the juror "did not hear" a question as to whether any juror had a relative who had been a victim of a violent crime. Yet the following facts contradict this conclusion: (1) the juror's admission that "I knew that if I disclosed what had happened to my mother, I would be excused from serving . I wanted to serve, . so I did not reveal the information"; (2) the state post-conviction court's acknowledgment of this admission; (3) the court's express finding (substantiated by the voir dire transcript) that all prospective jurors were asked if they had "been a victim of any kind of violent crime or any family members or any close relative ever been a victim of a violent crime"; (4) the court's further express finding that the transcript reflected no response to that question; and (5) the court's acknowledgment that immediately after the group question about family victims, prospective jurors were told that the trial "involv[ed] a first-degree murder, armed robbery, and rape" (information the juror plainly took in, based on his knowledge of the nature of the trial and his resulting admitted desire to serve on the jury). Indeed, the state court found that the juror "did not hear" the question although not even the juror himself made this claim directly; instead the juror simply stated in writing that he was not "congniznant [sic] of any jurors' group questioning . on this subject." Therefore, the state court apparently reached its disposi-tive finding, a credibility determination that contradicts the official written record of the voir dire, without the benefit of face-to-face consideration of any sort, without a hearing, and without even a direct assertion by the juror in support of the finding. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254(d)(2), (e)(1) (West Supp. 2002) (governing federal habeas review of state-court factual findings under AEDPA).
. Although other courts have on occasion refused tolling in capital cases, they have done so in cases involving greater (typically much greater) delay, or when petitioners have shown less diligence than Rouse, or both. See Fierro v. Cockrell, 294 F.3d 674, 679-80 (5th Cir.2002) (considering a habeas petition filed three months late), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Sept. 7, 2002) (No. 02-6336); Lookingbill, 293 F.3d at 264 (considering a habeas petition filed four days late and excused only by counsel's somewhat late appointment and "busy docket"); Kreutzer v. Bowersox, 231 F.3d 460, 461-62 (8th Cir.2000) (considering a habeas petition filed two weeks late); Cantu-Tzin v. Johnson, 162 F.3d 295, 297-99 (5th Cir.1998) (considering a case in which no habeas petition was ever filed and a motion for stay was filed two months after the deadline for a petition had passed). Regardless of diligence, however, we have found no case in which any circuit refused equitable tolling to a capital petitioner who filed his first federal habeas petition one day late.