Opinion ID: 760166
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Factor Three: Clear error as a matter of law.5

Text: 31 We have reserved this Bauman factor for last because it is the most complex. A majority of the three-judge panel found clear error because, in its view, Kelly III flatly precluded reconsideration of the AEDPA's time bar and the question of equitable tolling. See Kelly IV, 1998 WL 309923. 32 While we disagree with the panel majority that Kelly III has this preclusive effect, we do note that Kelly IV looks a lot like Kelly III: It has the same parties; the same facts; several of the same issues; and, until we granted rehearing en banc, the same judges. These similarities between Kelly III and Kelly IV suggest the possible applicability of one or more of an array of legal doctrines that are designed to prevent endless litigation of the same claims--specifically, law of the case, res judicata, and abuse of the writ. Obviously, if we found one of these doctrines applicable, that could resolve our clear error inquiry. If not, we must then proceed to determine the timeliness of Kelly's habeas petitions.
33 Kelly suggests that law of the case is the appropriate framework to decide whether Kelly III precludes the reconsideration of equitable tolling in Kelly IV. He argues that Kelly III lacks this preclusive effect because in Kelly IV he has raised new grounds for equitable tolling, grounds that were not raised or considered in Kelly III. Kelly then cites the familiar rule that law of the case prevents reconsideration only of those issues expressly resolved, or necessarily resolved by implication, in the prior decision. See Milgard Tempering, Inc. v. Selas Corp., 902 F.2d 703, 715 (9th Cir.1990). 34 We can dispense with law of the case as an impediment to considering the timeliness of Kelly's first petitions for one simple reason. Law of the case never prevents an en banc court from disagreeing with the prior decisions of a three-judge panel. Jeffries, 114 F.3d at 1492; Watkins v. United States Army, 875 F.2d 699, 704 n. 8 (9th Cir.1989) (en banc). Thus, even if Kelly III were law of the case as to the three-judge panel in Kelly IV, it is not law of the case as to the en banc court. Accordingly, we need not consider whether Kelly III and Kelly IV are truly the same case for purposes of law of the case, nor need we decide what issues Kelly III expressly resolved or resolved by necessary implication. The law of the case established by a three-judge panel simply does not bind the en banc court.
35 The three-judge panel in this case relied on res judicata to bar reconsideration of the effect of the AEDPA's statute of limitations. See Kelly IV, 1998 WL 309923. The panel majority noted that res judicata bars the reconsideration not only of those questions resolved in a prior case, but also of those that could have been raised and resolved in the prior case. Id. Thus, the panel majority was unmoved by Kelly's argument that he was now raising different grounds to support the application of equitable tolling from those considered in Kelly III. From the panel majority's perspective, that was irrelevant, since Kelly concededly could have raised those grounds in the prior mandamus case. 36 We reject the panel majority's use of res judicata because it contravenes the longstanding rule that res judicata has no application in habeas corpus. The entire point of a habeas petition that challenges a state conviction is to relitigate issues that were raised in the state case and resolved against the petitioner. Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 87, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977). 6 Obviously, then, res judicata, in the traditional sense of that doctrine, cannot apply in habeas corpus; otherwise, nearly every habeas petition would be barred by the original trial. See Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 458, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953) (holding that state proceedings are not res judicata to federal habeas cases). 37 The Supreme Court has confirmed that even a first habeas petition is not res judicata to subsequent petitions. McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467, 479, 111 S.Ct. 1454, 113 L.Ed.2d 517 (1991). Rather, federal courts have created a doctrine known as abuse of the writ that serves as a substitute for res judicata by limiting the availability of successive habeas petitions when a prior one has been denied. Id. at 480-88, 111 S.Ct. 1454. But the Court has been very clear that abuse of the writ is a substitute for res judicata, and that res judicata, strictly speaking, does not attach to the denial of a first habeas petition. Id. at 479-88, 111 S.Ct. 1454. 38 If we characterize Kelly III as a habeas proceeding, then McCleskey squarely forecloses any possibility that res judicata could apply to this case. The panel majority, however, preferred to characterize Kelly III as something else (what exactly it was, the panel majority did not say), reasoning that it could not be a habeas proceeding because Kelly had never filed a habeas petition. See Kelly IV, 1998 WL 309923. While that characterization of Kelly III is debatable, see Kelly IV, 1998 WL 309923 (Tashima, J., dissenting), we need not struggle to characterize Kelly III. What matters is that this case is a habeas proceeding. McCleskey categorically rejected res judicata from a first federal habeas petition to a second; thus, if even those potentially identical cases cannot trigger res judicata, it follows that nothing else can. We join the Seventh and Eighth Circuits in holding that res judicata does not apply to a petition for habeas corpus, regardless of the nature of the prior proceeding. See Boyer v. White, 763 F.2d 1012 (8th Cir.1985); Heirens v. Mizell, 729 F.2d 449, 456 (7th Cir.1984). 39 We also reject the State's argument that the traditional rule against applying res judicata in habeas cases has somehow been abrogated by the AEDPA. The State seizes on a part of one sentence in Felker v. Turpin, 518 U.S. 651, 116 S.Ct. 2333, 135 L.Ed.2d 827 (1996), in which the Supreme Court described one effect of the AEDPA: The new restrictions on successive petitions constitute a modified res judicata rule, a restraint on what is called in habeas corpus practice 'abuse of the writ.'  Id. at 2340. Because the State omits every word after rule when it quotes from Felker in its brief, it generates the illusion that Felker welcomed res judicata into habeas law. But once we read the entire sentence, we see that the Court was stating merely that the AEDPA statutorily codified the abuse of the writ doctrine, and it used the words modified res judicata rule as a shorthand description of that doctrine. 40 Indeed, even after the AEDPA, it is still true that federal habeas relief exists in order to relitigate claims that were previously decided in state court, so it is quite fanciful to suggest that the AEDPA sub silentio introduced res judicata into habeas law. Further, the AEDPA includes specific provisions to govern successive habeas petitions, see 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b), and res judicata would render those provisions largely superfluous. We conclude that even after the AEDPA, the rule is as it has always been: Res judicata does not apply to habeas cases.
41 Having rejected law of the case and res judicata, we turn to the last doctrine that might have prevented the district court from reconsidering Kelly III 's holding that Kelly is time-barred from challenging his state convictions and death sentences in federal court: Abuse of the writ. Generally, this doctrine forbids the reconsideration of claims that were or could have been raised in a prior habeas petition. McCleskey, 499 U.S. at 489, 111 S.Ct. 1454. Abuse of the writ evolved as a judicially created equitable doctrine, but it is now codified by the AEDPA. Felker, 116 S.Ct. at 2340; 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). 42 Kelly's present habeas petitions are not, and cannot be, an abuse of the writ because they are the first federal petitions he has ever filed. Boyer, 763 F.2d at 1012. We realize that in opposing the State's petition for mandamus in Kelly III, Kelly theoretically could have raised every possible argument against holding his petitions time-barred. But we do not think that Kelly's failure to present all possible grounds for relief in that defensive posture transforms his later habeas petitions into an abuse of the writ. The reason why successive petitions are often deemed abusive is that the first petition provided an adequate opportunity for the petitioner to raise all of his claims, and the petitioner simply chose not to take advantage of that opportunity. McCleskey, 499 U.S. at 493, 111 S.Ct. 1454. This case is different because opposing a petition for a writ of mandamus is not an adequate substitute for raising every claim that one might prudently raise in a habeas petition. It was the State that sought mandamus and that set the agenda, i.e., selected the issues to be contested, before the court of appeals. We think this reversal of the litigants' positions, combined with the transfer of agenda-setting power to the State, made Kelly's opportunity to respond to the petition for a writ of mandamus an inadequate substitute for a first habeas petition. Accordingly, Kelly III does not turn Kelly's first habeas petitions in Kelly IV into an abuse of the writ.
43 Having concluded that Kelly III does not preclude reconsideration of the application of the AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations, we now turn to that issue. The AEDPA does not apply to cases pending at the time of the statute's enactment. Lindh, 117 S.Ct. at 2061; Jeffries, 114 F.3d at 1494. In Beeler, we held that a habeas case was not pending merely because a petition for the appointment of counsel to prepare and file a habeas petition had been filed. 128 F.3d at 1287 n. 3. Rather, Beeler held that a case is pending within the meaning of Lindh only when a petition for a writ of habeas corpus has been filed. Id. 44 Beeler acknowledged some tension between its holding and the Supreme Court's decision in McFarland v. Scott, 512 U.S. 849, 114 S.Ct. 2568, 129 L.Ed.2d 666 (1994). McFarland held that for purposes of 21 U.S.C. § 848(q)(4)(B), which provides for the appointment of counsel for capital defendants in post-conviction proceedings, a post conviction proceeding is pending when a request for the appointment of counsel has been made. Id. at 856, 114 S.Ct. 2568. Beeler limited McFarland 's broad conception of a proceeding to 21 U.S.C. § 848(q)(4)(B), and it held that for purposes of the AEDPA (and consequently Lindh ), a case begins only with the filing of a petition for habeas corpus. 128 F.3d at 1287 n. 3. 45 It was Beeler that initiated Kelly III and Kelly IV 's struggle with equitable tolling. Given Beeler, it was clear that Kelly's case was not pending when the AEDPA was enacted; therefore, the one-year statute of limitations applied to this case. Kelly III correctly noted that in light of Beeler, Kelly's hopes for federal habeas relief depended on equitable tolling, at least for his non-Ford claims. See Kelly III, 127 F.3d at 785. 46 Recently, however, the Supreme Court decided Hohn v. United States, 524 U.S. 236, 118 S.Ct. 1969, 141 L.Ed.2d 242 (1998), a decision that has vitiated Beeler 's holding. Hohn 's narrow holding was that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review decisions of the courts of appeals denying applications for certificates of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). Id. at 1971. But the Court's reasoning was somewhat broader. The Court based its decision on 28 U.S.C. § 1254, which states that Cases in the courts of appeals may be reviewed by the Supreme Court by several methods, including certiorari. Asked whether an application for a certificate of appealability constituted a case, the Court unhesitatingly answered yes: 47 There can be little doubt that Hohn's application for a certificate of appealability constitutes a case under § 1254(1). As we have noted, [t]he words 'case' and 'cause' are constantly used as synonyms in statutes ..., each meaning a proceeding in court, a suit, or action. Blyew v. United States, 80 U.S. 581, 13 Wall. 581, 595, 20 L.Ed. 638 (1871). The dispute over Hohn's entitlement to a certificate falls within this definition. It is a proceeding seeking relief for an immediate and redressable injury, i.e., wrongful detention in violation of the Constitution. There is adversity as well as the other requisite qualities of a case as the term is used in both Article III of the Constitution and the statute here under consideration. 48 Id. at 1972. Of particular relevance to Beeler 's holding that a petition for the appointment of counsel and a motion for a stay of execution do not start a habeas case is the following passage from Hohn: 49 We further disagree with the contention ... that a request to proceed before a court of appeals should be regarded as a threshold inquiry separate from the merits which, if denied, prevents the case from ever being in the court of appeals. Precedent forecloses this argument. In Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942), we confronted the analogous question whether a request for leave to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus was a case in a district court.... We held the request for leave constituted a case in the district court over which the court of appeals could assert jurisdiction, even though the district court had denied the request. We reasoned, [p]resentation of the petition for judicial action is the institution of a suit. Hence the denial by the district court of leave to file the petitions in these causes was the judicial determination of a case or controversy.... 50 Id. at 1974-75. 51 In the wake of Hohn, we must overrule Beeler and Kelly III 's holding that a habeas corpus case is not pending until the habeas petition itself has been filed. Hohn 's holding, as well as its reliance on Ex Parte Quirin that a threshold request for leave to file a petition for habeas corpus commences the habeas case, is simply irreconcilable with Beeler and Kelly III. Like a request for leave to file a habeas petition, a petition for the appointment of counsel to prepare and file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, accompanied by a motion for a stay of execution under McFarland, is a threshold action that presents a case to the district court. By analogy to Hohn, it follows that a petition for appointment of counsel under McFarland creates a pending habeas case. 7 Accordingly, we overrule those portions of Beeler and Kelly III that held that a habeas corpus case is pending only when the habeas petition itself has been filed. A petition for the appointment of counsel to prepare and file a habeas petition, coupled with a motion for a stay of execution, also suffices. 52 Given this reading of Hohn and our partial overruling of Beeler and our overruling of Kelly III, it is clear that the AEDPA, including its statute of limitations, does not apply to the district court proceedings that Kelly filed in 1992 and 1993, i.e., cases No. CV 92-5420 TJH and No. CV 93-2951 TJH. Those cases were dismissed by the district court under the compulsion of the writ of mandamus issued in Kelly III, which we have now overruled. Thus, in retrospect, the district court's decision to consider Kelly's habeas petitions on the merits is not clear error. 8 53 Under the circumstances of this case, one remedy available to Kelly is to move in the district court to set aside those dismissals under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6), 9 and to permit or deem the habeas petitions filed in district court cases No. CV 98-2722 TJH and No. CV 98-2723 TJH to be filed in the earlier-filed cases nunc pro tunc as of the date they were filed in the 1998 cases. See United States v. Alpine Land & Reservoir, Co., 984 F.2d 1047, 1049 (9th Cir.1993) (Rule 60(b)(6) applies where extraordinary circumstances prevented a party from taking timely action). Although such a motion is addressed to the discretion of the district court, id., because the original proceedings were dismissed under the compulsion of Kelly III and our mistaken holding in footnote 3 of Beeler, which we have now overruled, good and just cause would exist to set those dismissals aside. 10
54 In the alternative, we hold that it was not clear error as a matter of law for the district court to hold that Kelly's habeas petitions, filed in 1998, were not barred by the AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations. Indeed, the district court's finding that the statute of limitations should be equitably tolled under Beeler was clearly correct. 55 In Beeler, we held that the time bar of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1) can be tolled if 'extraordinary circumstances' beyond a prisoner's control make it impossible to file a petition on time. 128 F.3d at 1288-89 (citing Alvarez-Machain v. United States, 107 F.3d 696, 701 (9th Cir.1996)). 56 In its order of June 3, 1998, the district court Ordered that the motions for equitable tolling be, and hereby is, Granted based on prior counsels' reliance on this Court's order staying all proceedings other than the issue of Petitioner's sanity. There are several reasons why this order is clearly correct, rather than clearly erroneous. 57 First, on January 9, 1995, as part of its order that Kelly be mentally evaluated, the district court ordered that all other aspects of this case be, and hereby are, Stayed pending final determination by this Court of the Petitioner's mental capacity to proceed. The only reasonable reading of this order was that it prohibited Kelly's attorneys from filing a habeas petition, which is how the district court itself construed it. Explaining its decision to grant equitable tolling in Kelly IV, the district court noted: [T]his court indeed ordered a stay of all the proceedings other than the issue of the petitioner's sanity.... Reasonably, it could not be expected that counsel would go forward [with filing the habeas petitions]. See also Kelly III, 127 F.3d at 788 (Few things put the doing of an act so 'clearly beyond the prisoner's control,' as Beeler requires, as a court order prohibiting the doing of that act.) (Tashima, J., dissenting). This stay of the proceedings prevented Kelly's counsel from filing a habeas petition and, in itself, justifies equitable tolling. 58 Second, Kelly's alleged mental incompetency also justifies equitable tolling, at least until a reasonable period of time has elapsed after the district court makes a competency determination. The record discloses that Kelly has been having serious mental problems for many years. See id., at 788 & n. 1. In fact, the State agreed that a hearing was necessary to determine his present competency. See id. at 788-89. 11 Under 21 U.S.C. § 848(q)(4)(B), Kelly has a statutory right to counsel in his federal habeas proceeding. That right contemplates effective communication between lawyer and client. Murray v. Delo, 34 F.3d 1367, 1373 (8th Cir.1994) (We do not think Congress had in mind a lawyer who would not communicate with his or her client, or who would file a petition without consultation with or authorization from the client.). A putative habeas petitioner's mental incompetency--a condition that is, obviously, an extraordinary circumstance beyond the prisoner's control--renders the petitioner unable to assist his attorney in the preparation of a habeas petition. Such a condition could eviscerate the statutory right to counsel. Where, as here, there is a threshold showing of mental incompetency, a sufficient showing has been made for equitably tolling the statute of limitations, and we reject Kelly III 's holding to the contrary. When a putative habeas petitioner's mental competency is at issue, and the record discloses a genuine basis for concern, it is appropriate to toll the AEDPA's time bar until a reasonable period after the district court makes a competency determination. 59 Third, Kelly had timely, i.e., not subject to the AEDPA's statute of limitations, habeas proceedings pending at one time. As set forth in Part II.C.4, above, those proceedings were mistakenly dismissed, through no fault of Kelly, under the compulsion of the writ of mandamus issued in Kelly III. This judicial error presents an independent ground to toll the statute of limitations, for it was our mistake that deprived Kelly of the opportunity to have his first federal habeas petitions considered on the merits. 60 For all of these reasons, the district court correctly held that Kelly's 1998 habeas petitions, i.e., those filed in cases No. CV 98-2722 TJH and No. CV 98-2723 TJH, were entitled to the benefit of the equitable tolling of the statute of limitations. Cf. Herring v. FDIC, 82 F.3d 282 (9th Cir.) (We may affirm on any basis the record supports, including one the district court did not reach.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 581, 136 L.Ed.2d 512 (1996). 61 In sum, the State has not demonstrated that the challenged orders of the district court are clearly erroneous as a matter of law.