Case Name: Feliz Talaz VILLEGAS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1999-08-09
Citations: 184 F.3d 467
Docket Number: No. 98-10298
Parties: Feliz Talaz VILLEGAS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: Before EMILIO M. GARZA, BENAVIDES and DENNIS, Circuit Judges. *
Reporter: Federal Reporter 3d Series
Volume: 184
Pages: 467–479

Head Matter:
Feliz Talaz VILLEGAS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 98-10298.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Aug. 9, 1999.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Sept. 14, 1999.
Feliz Talaz Villegas, Huntsville, TX, pro se.
Tommy Lee Skaggs, Assistant Attorney General, Austin, TX, for Respondent-Ap-pellee.
Before EMILIO M. GARZA, BENAVIDES and DENNIS, Circuit Judges. *
Emilio M. Garza would grant a panel rehearing for the reasons stated in his dissent.

Opinion:
BENAVIDES, Circuit Judge:
Texas state prisoner Feliz Talaz Villegas appeals the dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court found that Villegas did not file his petition within the limitation period established by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996) ("AEDPA"). We conclude that the statute of limitations was tolled while Villegas's second state habeas petition was pending. Because we exclude that time period from the calculus, we find that Villegas's federal petition was timely. We therefore vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.
I
On March 21, 1991, a jury convicted Villegas of one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of indecency with a child. The trial court sentenced him to a term of imprisonment for thirty-five years for the former count and a term of imprisonment for fifteen years for each of the latter counts. On September 21, 1992, the Court of Appeals affirmed Villegas's conviction. Villegas did not file a petition for discretionary review with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Villegas filed his first state habeas corpus petition on January 27, 1995. This application included a claim of insufficient evidence, a claim based on the use of extraneous offenses, a challenge to the indictment's charging three non-property offenses arising out of the same transaction, and an argument that the trial court erred in denying Villegas's motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. This petition was denied without written order on June 28, 1995. Villegas filed a second state habeas corpus petition on March 26, 1996. The grounds raised in the second application were that Villegas was denied a complete copy of his trial court records and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. In accordance with section 4 of article 11.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, this petition was dismissed as successive or an abuse of the writ on April 9, 1997, over one year after it was filed.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Villegas filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court on or about October 7, 1997. In support of this petition, Villegas claimed that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. Because Villegas filed his petition after the effective date of AEDPA, its provisions govern his claims. See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 117 S.Ct. 2059, 138 L.Ed.2d 481 (1997).
The respondent moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that it was barred by the statute of limitations set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1), as amended by AED-PA. Villegas opposed the motion, relying on AEDPA's tolling provision, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2). He argued that the pen-dency of his second state petition had tolled the limitation period and that his federal petition was therefore timely. The magistrate judge to whom the matter was referred recommended that the petition be dismissed with prejudice as time-barred. In making this recommendation, the magistrate judge found that Villegas's successive state application had not been "properly filed" as that term is used in § 2244(d)(2) and that, as a consequence, its pendency had not tolled the limitation period. Villegas filed a written objection to the magistrate judge's recommendation. The district court subsequently adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation and dismissed Villegas's petition with prejudice. Villegas filed a timely notice of appeal, and the district court granted a certificate of appealability for our consideration of the question whether Villegas's second state habeas corpus petition was "properly filed" for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2).
II
Before AEDPA's enactment, a prisoner faced no strict time constraints in filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See Davis v. Johnson, 158 F.3d 806, 809 n. 4 (5th Cir.1998). AEDPA amended 28 U.S.C. § 2244 to establish a one-year limitation period for filing a habeas petition in federal court. In most cases, the limitation period runs from "the date on which the judgment became final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review." 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A). In United States v. Flores, 135 F.3d 1000 (5th Cir.1998), however, we held that this one-year limitation period cannot be applied retroactively to extinguish claims that were technically time-barred prior to AEDPA's enactment. Flores established that a petitioner such as Villegas, whose conviction became final prior to AEDPA's enactment, is afforded one year following AEDPA's effective date, April 24, 1996, to file an application for a writ of habeas corpus. See id. at 1006; cf. Flanagan v. Johnson, 154 F.3d 196 (5th Cir.1998) (clarifying that AED-PA's enactment date is excluded from the computation of the one-year period applicable to petitions that would otherwise be time-barred as of April 24, 1996, such that petitions filed on or before April 24, 1997, are timely).
Villegas submitted his petition after April 24, 1997, but asserts that his filing did not fall outside the limitation period. Villegas relies on AEDPA's tolling provision, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2), which states:
The time during which a properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim is pending shall not be counted toward any period of limitation under this subsection.
In Fields v. Johnson, 159 F.3d 914 (5th Cir.1998), we held that petitioners whose convictions became final before AEDPA's enactment may rely on this tolling mechanism during the pendency of a petition covered by § 2244(d)(2). Assessing the merit of Villegas's claim requires that we ascertain the meaning of "properly filed" as that term appears in § 2244(d)(2), as only properly filed applications will trigger the Act's tolling provision. Specifically, we must determine whether a successive state petition may fit within the scope of § 2244(d)(2).
Villegas argues that his second state habeas corpus petition was filed in accordance with Texas's procedural filing requirements and that the dismissal of that petition as successive has no bearing on whether it was properly filed. The respondent argues that Villegas's second state petition was not properly filed because it was dismissed as successive. The respondent asserts that allowing tolling based on the second petition would undermine the purpose of the limitation period by allowing a prisoner to file endless state petitions while preserving his ability to file stale, but technically timely, federal petitions.
The majority of courts that have considered this issue have concluded that " 'a properly filed application' is one submitted according to the state's procedural requirements, such as the rules governing notice and the time and place of filing." Lovasz v. Vaughn, 134 F.3d 146, 148 (3d Cir.1998); accord, e.g., Souch v. Harkins, 21 F.Supp.2d 1083 (D.Ariz.1998); Galindo v. Johnson, 19 F.Supp.2d 697 (W.D.Tex.1998); Ellis v. Johnson, 11 F.Supp.2d 695 (N.D.Tex.1998); Hughes v. Irvin, 967 F.Supp. 775 (E.D.N.Y.1997). A handful of district courts have found instead that a properly filed application is one that is not frivolous, but these courts have offered little analysis to support their conclusion that the phrase "properly filed" connotes some measure of merit. See Washington v. Gramley, No. 97 C 3270, 1998 WL 171827 (N.D.Ill. Apr. 10, 1998); Hill v. Keane, 984 F.Supp. 157 (E.D.N.Y.1997); Valentine v. Senkowski, 966 F.Supp. 239 (S.D.N.Y.1997). We agree with the majority line of eases and, based on principles of statutory construction and concerns regarding comity and exhaustion, we hold that a "properly filed application" for § 2244(d)(2) purposes is one that conforms with a state's applicable procedural filing requirements. We further hold that Ville-gas's second petition, although dismissed as successive, was properly filed and thus tolled the applicable limitation period.
Neither AEDPA nor its legislative history explains which state filings qualify as properly filed applications. See S.Rep. No. 104-179 (1995), reprinted in 1996 U.S.C.C.A.N. 924; H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 104-518 (1996), reprinted in 1996 U.S.C.C.A.N. 944. Like the Third Circuit, we are reluctant to engraft a merit requirement into § 2244(d)(2) without some indication of congressional intent to do so. See Lovasz, 134 F.3d at 149 ("After all, Congress chose the phrase 'a properly filed application,' one into which we do not read any requirement that the application be non-frivolous."). That we deal here with a statute that constrains the right to seek a writ of habeas corpus also inclines us to resist an interpretation that goes beyond the plain meaning of § 2244(d)(2). Without a clear sign of congressional intent, this court ought not derogate that right by reaching for an overbroad interpretation. See Galindo, 19 F.Supp.2d at 706-08; cf. Lonchar v. Thomas, 517 U.S. 314, 330, 116 S.Ct. 1293, 134 L.Ed.2d 440 (1996) ("[Gjiven the importance of a first federal habeas petition, it is particularly important that any rule that would deprive inmates of all access to the writ should be both clear and fair.").
We similarly refuse to find that a successive state application or one containing procedurally barred claims is per se improperly filed. Section 2244(d)(2) explicitly requires only that a state application be properly filed. Had Congress intended to condition tolling on a state court finding of merit, it could have drafted § 2244(d)(2) to exclude frivolous petitions from its scope. So too could Congress have crafted a provision that clearly withheld tolling from prisoners filing in state court successive petitions or petitions containing procedurally barred claims. Congress enacted AEDPA against a backdrop of federal ha-beas law dealing with procedurally barred claims. See, e.g., Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 750, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991) (barring federal habeas review of claims defaulted in state court pursuant to an independent and adequate state procedural rule unless the petitioner can demonstrate cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice); cf. Souch v. Harkins, 21 F.Supp.2d 1083, 1087-88 (D.Ariz.1998) (observing that an extensive body of law governs federal ha-beas petitions raising procedurally barred claims and reasoning that, if Congress had sought to alter this legal landscape, it would have made such an intent clear). Congress also dealt with the problems raised by successive petitions at the same time that it drafted § 2244(d)(2). See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(a)-(b). That Congress nonetheless chose not to address successive state petitions or procedurally barred claims in § 2244(d)(2) convinces us all the more that we ought not assume an overly broad meaning of "properly filed."
Our close reading of § 2244(d)(2) also comports with principles of comity and concerns regarding exhaustion. The Supreme Court has stated that "the States should have the first opportunity to address and correct alleged violations of state prisoner's federal rights." Coleman, 501 U.S. at 731, 111 S.Ct. 2546. AEDPA was an attempt on the part of Congress to " 'reduce federal intrusion into state criminal proceedings,' " Lovasz, 134 F.3d at 148 (citation omitted), encourage claim exhaustion, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1), and accord greater deference to state court adjudications, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(l)-(2), (e)(1); Gochicoa v. Johnson, 118 F.3d 440, 444 (5th Cir.1997); Drinkard v. Johnson, 97 F.3d 751, 767-69 (5th Cir.1996). Our interpretation of § 2244(d)(2) is in keeping with these statutory purposes.
With respect to comity concerns, we agree with the Third Circuit that "if a state allows petitioners to file second or subsequent petitions for post-conviction relief, federal courts should not undermine the state's decision by refusing to toll the one-year period of limitation of § 2244(d)(1) where a second or subsequent petition is pending in the state court system." Lovasz, 134 F.3d at 148. AEDPA evinces no congressional intent to embroil federal courts in problematic determinations of the merit of state court filings. See id. at 149 (finding a merit inquiry to be inappropriate and unnecessary); Hughes v. Irvin, 967 F.Supp. 775, 778-79 (E.D.N.Y.1997) (highlighting the difficulties posed by a substantive merit inquiry). Moreover, we see no reason to second-guess state legislatures' decisions regarding the disposition of state applications for post-conviction or other collateral review.
At this time, as when Villegas filed his second state petition, Texas places no absolute time or numerosity limitations on the filing of applications for a writ of habe-as corpus after a conviction not involving the imposition of the death penalty. See Tex.Crim. P.Code Ann. art. 11.07 (West Supp.1999). Texas could have placed greater restraints on the time or number of filings by prisoners such as Villegas, see, e.g., id. art. 11.071 § 4 (establishing the time frame for filing a habeas application in a death penalty case), but it did not. So too, Texas could have enacted a statutory scheme precluding the filing of a successive petition without prior judicial authorization. See, e.g., 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A)-(B) (conditioning the filing of a successive federal habeas petition on the authorization of such filing by a three-judge panel of the court of appeals); Ind. R. Proc. Post-Conviction Remedies 1, § 12 (directing Indiana state courts to decline to authorize the filing of a successive petition unless the petition form and proposed successive petition demonstrate that the petitioner is entitled to relief). Nor did the State court refuse to accept Villegas's successive petition for filing, as it may do in certain circumstances. See Lowe v. Scott, 48 F.3d 873, 875 (5th Cir.1995) (recognizing the abuse-of-the-writ doctrine which "allows the court after finding that petitioner has abused the writ, to refuse to accept or file the habeas petition absent a showing of cause that the contention could not have been raised in the prior proceeding"); Ex parte Dora, 548 S.W.2d 392, 394 (Tex.Crim.App.1977) (delineating circumstances in which state court may decline to file an application for a writ of habeas corpus); cf. 28 U.S.C. §. 1915(g) (barring civil actions by prisoners whose three or more previous actions were dismissed as frivolous and who are proceeding informa pauperis); id. § 1915A (allowing a court to review prisoner complaints for frivolous claims and immune defendants prior to docketing); Tex.Crim. P.Code Ann. art. 11.07 § 5 ("The Court of Criminal Appeals may deny relief upon the findings and conclusions of the hearing judge without docketing the cause.")- In fact, Texas law specifically contemplates the filing of successive applications. The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, although sharply constraining Texas courts in their review of successive petitions, allows them to grant relief in limited instances, notwithstanding the filing of an earlier application. See Tex.Crim. P.Code Ann. art. 11.07(4) (delineating the circumstances in which a court may consider the merits of or grant relief based on a successive petition). Thus, like Congress with AEDPA, Texas has established a policy regarding successive petitions. As that matter is left to the states — the first forum for resolution of habeas claims — we find it unlikely that Congress intended its tolling provision to result in indifference to, or even interference with, a given state's handling of petitions for post-conviction relief.
We agree with the Third Circuit that we should not embrace an interpretation of § 2244(d)(2) that would "discourage petitioners from exhausting all their claims in state court, even by means of a second or subsequent petition for post-conviction relief where permissible under state law, before seeking habeas review in federal court." Lovasz v. Vaughn, 134 F.3d 146, 148 (3d Cir.1998). Making tolling contingent upon some measure of success before the state courts would undermine AED-PA's emphasis on exhaustion. Unable to predict whether the state court will find that their successive petitions fit within the statutory exceptions allowing relief, many prisoners seeking to ensure compliance with AEDPA's limitation period either would forgo the successive state filing and submit a premature federal petition or would simultaneously file state and federal petitions. Federal courts would then face the dilemma of holding petitions in abeyance or dismissing without prejudice petitions that may later be time-barred by virtue of the ensuing state court determination. See Brewer v. Johnson, 139 F.3d 491, 493 (5th Cir.1998) (per curiam) (noting a district court's authority to abate or dismiss a petition if the prisoner has not exhausted available state remedies). Section 2244(d)(2), as we have interpreted it, avoids these pitfalls by allowing tolling if a prisoner complies with the state's procedural filing requirements. In this manner, AEDPA encourages exhaustion, avoids piecemeal and successive federal filings, and leaves established doctrine to deal with procedurally barred claims.
We are mindful of the respondent's concern that allowing tolling for meritless state petitions will undermine the limitation period imposed by AEDPA. Although our interpretation may forestall final resolution of some petitions, it will not extend to an excessive degree the time for filing; in nearly every case, the tolling will last only as long as the state court takes to resolve the pending application because any lapse of time before a state application is properly filed will be counted against the one-year limitation period. See Flanagan v. Johnson, 154 F.3d 196, 199 n. 1 (5th Cir.1998). Thus, a prisoner will not be able to revive an expired limitation period by simply filing a state petition in conformity with basic procedural requirements. Furthermore, the potential for delay' may decline as states place stricter restrictions on the filings that are the basis of tolling. In the meantime, Texas's judicial abuse-of-the-writ doctrine will serve as an impediment to the repeated filing of meritless petitions. This doctrine, which is similar to AEDPA's successive-petition provisions, allows the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to refuse to accept a successive appli-catipn from a petitioner who has abused the writ, unless the petitioner demonstrates that his claim could not have been raised in an earlier proceeding. See, e.g., Lowe v. Scott, 48 F.3d 873, 875 (5th Cir.1995). Thus, the abuse-of-the-writ doctrine minimizes the extent to which a petitioner can extend the federal limitation period. In the end, however, the respondents' concerns pertain to policy and are more appropriately directed to Congress and the state legislature. Any delay occasioned by tolling is insufficient to force an interpretation not supported by the statute.
Ill
For the reasons discussed above, we conclude that 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2) authorizes tolling during the pendency of petitions filed in accordance with a state's procedural filing requirements. We hold that Villegas's second state habeas petition, although dismissed as successive, was properly filed within the meaning of § 2244(d)(2). With the benefit of the resulting toll, Villegas filed his federal within the limitation period established by the AEDPA. We therefore VACATE the judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
. Flores dealt with the limitation period set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2255, but relied on cases interpreting the similar provision of 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The holding in Flores applies to petitions filed under both § 2255 and § 2254. See Flanagan v. Johnson, 154 F.3d 196, 200 n. 2 (5th Cir.1998).
. By procedural filing requirements, we mean those prerequisites that must be satisfied before a state court will allow a petition to be filed and accorded some level of judicial review. Such filing requirements are not limited to the rules governing notice and the time and place of filing and may include, for example, a requirement that the petitioner obtain judicial authorization for the filing.
. The dissent argues that § 2244(b)(3) is a procedural filing requirement pertaining to successive petitions. We agree. From that fact, the dissent then leaps to the further conclusion that any state rule pertaining to successive petitions must also be a procedural filing requirement. This leap is unsupported in logic. Congress relied on a filing requirement to limit successive petitions. In contrast, some states, including Texas, have sought to discourage successive petitions by limiting the availability of relief, instead of prohibiting the actual filing of such applications. Section 4 of article 11.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure allows the filing of a successive petition but then requires judicial consideration of the application to ascertain whether it contains sufficient facts to allow the court to delve into the merits of the individual claims set forth in the petition.
. Section 4 of article 11.07 precludes a grant of relief based on a successive petition, unless the petitioner demonstrates facts sufficient to fit within a statutory exception allowing relief. We view § 4 as a limitation on a Texas state court's ability to grant relief for a successive pétition, as opposed to an absolute bar to the filing of such a petition. Although, pursuant to § 4, a Texas state court will not automatically consider the merits of claims raised in a successive petition, it will accept the petition for filing and review the application to determine whether the statutory exceptions are met. See, e.g., Ex parte Tucker, 973 S.W.2d 950 (Tex.Crim.App.1998) (examining whether second application for writ of habeas corpus contained facts sufficient to establish an exception allowing a grant of relief on the basis of the application); Ex parte Sowell, 956 S.W.2d 39 (Tex.Crim.App.1997) (same). If the successive petition does not fit within an exception, the state court will dismiss it. This process is distinct from the refusal to accept a petition for filing.