Opinion ID: 169022
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timeliness of Count III

Text: 12 Mr. Fleming pleaded guilty to Count III. The state trial court sentenced him on December 21, 2001. Because Mr. Fleming did not file a timely motion for leave to withdraw his plea or otherwise directly appeal his conviction, his conviction on Count III became final on December 31, 2001. See Okla. Stat. tit. 22, Ch. 18, App., Rule 4.2. Absent statutory or equitable tolling, the AEDPA limitations period expired on December 31, 2002. Mr. Fleming filed an application for post-conviction relief in Oklahoma state court on August 27, 2004. The state court denied his application and the OCCA affirmed on November 30, 2004. Mr. Fleming filed this § 2254 petition in federal district court on June 10, 2005. 2 13 Mr. Fleming first contends that under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(D) the one-year limitations period should not have started to run on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in entering a guilty plea until May 18, 2003, 3 when he discovered that his trial counsel failed to move to withdraw his guilty plea and to perfect an appeal on that issue. To support his position, Mr. Fleming claims that, after he specifically instructed his attorney to move to withdraw his guilty plea, his counsel told him he had done so and the claim was pending in state court. If that allegation is true, then the date on which the factual predicate [of this claim for ineffective assistance of counsel] could have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(D), would be the day on which Mr. Fleming could have reasonably discovered that his counsel failed to follow his instructions to seek to withdraw and appeal his guilty plea. Hence, we assume arguendo that the limitations period began to run on this date, May 18, 2003, rather than on December 31, 2001. Using the later date, Mr. Fleming had until May 18, 2004, to file his habeas petition in federal court. He did not do so. 14 Mr. Fleming next asserts that the limitations period should be equitably tolled from July 25, 2003, until August 27, 2004, because during this time he reasonably relied on his attorney's misrepresentations that he was in the midst of preparing and filing an application for post conviction relief and Mr. Fleming had no cause to discover these misrepresentations. Habeas counsel's negligence is not generally a basis for equitable tolling because [t]here is no constitutional right to an attorney in state post-conviction proceedings. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 752, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). The rationale is that attorney negligence is not extraordinary and clients, even if incarcerated, must `vigilantly oversee,' and ultimately bear responsibility for, their attorneys' actions or failures. Modrowski v. Mote, 322 F.3d 965, 968 (7th Cir.2003); see also Merritt v. Blaine, 326 F.3d 157, 169 (3d Cir.2003) (applying general rule that attorney error, miscalculation, inadequate research, or other mistakes have not been found to rise to the extraordinary circumstances required for equitable tolling (quotation omitted)); Rouse v. Lee, 339 F.3d 238, 248 (4th Cir.2003) ([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. (quotation omitted)); United States v. Martin, 408 F.3d 1089, 1093 (8th Cir.2005) (Ineffective assistance of counsel, where it is due to an attorney's negligence or mistake, has not generally been considered an extraordinary circumstance [with respect to equitable tolling].). 15 Mr. Fleming seeks to distinguish his case on the basis that his attorney did not act with mere negligence, but rather deceived him into believing that he was actively pursuing Mr. Fleming's legal remedies when, in fact, he was not. To this end, Mr. Fleming claims that, on July 25, 2003, his mother retained new counsel to represent him in state post-conviction proceedings. Mr. Fleming inquired of his counsel several times during phone calls and visits at the prison as to the status of his petition. 4 Each time he inquired, his counsel or his counsel's staff assured Mr. Fleming that his petition was being prepared and that, within a week or two of that conversation, the petition would be filed. In fact, no petition was filed. Aware that the one-year limitations period was fast approaching, Mr. Fleming drafted his own petition with the aid of a prison inmate law clerk. He then submitted the draft to his counsel for review and filing in state court, but his counsel failed to file it until after the AEDPA limitations period expired. 5 16 Other circuits have held that egregious attorney misconduct may constitute extraordinary circumstances that justify equitable tolling. See United States v. Martin, 408 F.3d 1089, 1093 (8th Cir.2005) (concluding habeas counsel's affirmative misrepresentations, failure to communicate with habeas client, and failure to return client's papers constitute egregious misconduct that may be basis for equitable tolling); Spitsyn v. Moore, 345 F.3d 796, 801 (9th Cir.2003) (concluding attorney's misconduct in failing to file habeas petition and refusing to return client file constitutes egregious misconduct that may justify equitable tolling); Baldayaque v. United States, 338 F.3d 145, 152 (2d Cir.2003) (concluding egregious misconduct on the part of petitioner's counsel, including failure to file § 2255 petition as requested by client, failure to conduct research on client's case, and failure to communicate with client, may justify equitable tolling); Brown v. Shannon, 322 F.3d 768, 773-74 (3d Cir.2003) (acknowledging that an attorney's affirmative lies to petitioner may be grounds for equitable tolling); United States v. Wynn, 292 F.3d 226, 230 (5th Cir.2002) (same). We agree with those circuits holding that sufficiently egregious misconduct on the part of a habeas petitioner's counsel may justify equitable tolling of the AEDPA limitations period. 17 We further conclude that Mr. Fleming has alleged enough facts to warrant, at a minimum, an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he is entitled to equitable tolling. Counsel was retained shortly after Mr. Fleming alleges he discovered his trial counsel's failure to move to withdraw his guilty plea on Count III (and, as noted below, merely two weeks after his conviction on Count II became final). He was therefore hired nearly a full year in advance of the expiration of the filing deadline. Mr. Fleming contacted him several times over the course of the year, and counsel repeatedly assured Mr. Fleming that filing was forthcoming. See Spitsyn, 345 F.3d at 801 (concluding equitable tolling may be justified when counsel, who was hired nearly a full year in advance of the filing deadline, failed to prepare and file a petition; he also failed to return petitioner's file upon request until two months after filing deadline); Baldayaque, 338 F.3d at 152 (concluding attorney's failure to file § 2255 petition, research issues, meet with client, and keep his client reasonably informed of the status of his case was far enough outside the range of behavior that reasonably could be expected by a client that [the actions] may be considered `extraordinary'). Hence, counsel's misrepresentations may amount to an extraordinary circumstance, and reasonable jurists could debate whether the District Court abused its discretion in rejecting equitable tolling on this basis. 18 In addition to showing that his attorney's misconduct amounts to an extraordinary circumstance, Mr. Fleming must also show that he acted with reasonable diligence, and that the extraordinary circumstances caused his petition to be untimely. Baldayaque, 338 F.3d at 153; see also Gibson v. Klinger, 232 F.3d 799, 807 (10th Cir.2000) (requiring as a prerequisite to equitable tolling that a petitioner diligently pursue his federal habeas claims). Here, despite his counsel's assurances, Mr. Fleming took it upon himself to prepare his own petition, which though filed late, may establish that Mr. Fleming acted with reasonable diligence in pursuing his claim. See Spitsyn, 345 F.3d at 801 (remanding for consideration as to whether petitioner exercised reasonable diligence in pursuing habeas relief when his counsel engaged in egregious misconduct); Baldayaque, 338 F.3d at 153 (same). 19 If the limitations period is tolled as Mr. Fleming maintains it should be, his petition would be timely. The limitations period (we assume) started to run on May 18, 2003, and ran until he retained his counsel on July 25, 2003. This left 297 days during which Mr. Fleming could file in state court. If Mr. Fleming is entitled to equitable tolling until his state court filing on August 27, 2004, and then statutory tolling until November 30, 2004, when the OCCA denied post-conviction relief, see 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2), then Mr. Fleming's federal petition was timely. He filed in federal district court on June 10, 2005, 192 days after November 30. The state bears the burden of proving that the AEDPA limitations period has expired, cf. Hooks v. Ward, 184 F.3d 1206, 1216-17 (10th Cir.1999) (holding that state bears the burden of proving the adequacy of a state procedural bar to federal habeas review), and we conclude reasonable jurists would find it debatable whether the district court abused its discretion with respect to its procedural ruling. 20