Opinion ID: 220788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Pabon's Pro Se Habeas Petition in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Text: Pabon filed a pro se petition for habeas corpus with the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on September 20, 2007 and it was received by the Court on October 5, 2007. [8] The District Court referred the matter to a Magistrate Judge for a Report and Recommendation (R & R). It concluded that Pabon's petition was filed ten months after AEDPA's one-year statutory deadline and was therefore time-barred under 28 U.S.C. § 2244. The R & R also concluded that there was no basis for equitable tolling of the limitations period. Pabon filed hand-written objections to the R & R, arguing that he was entitled to have the time for filing equitably tolled because he does not read, write or speak English and he was repeatedly denied access to Spanish language materials or a translator while in prison. The Court overruled Pabon's objections, adopted the R & R, and dismissed the habeas petition as untimely. Pabon filed a timely notice of appeal in our Court and, subsequently, an application for a COA. We granted the COA on whether the habeas petition was timely filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d), including the question whether there is a basis for equitably tolling the limitations period. We later issued an order staying oral argument, however, pending resolution of a possible jurisdictional defect in the COA. The order directed the parties to brief whether Pabon had made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c). That jurisdictional issue and Pabon's equitable tolling claim are now before us. We conclude that Pabon has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right based on the alleged Bruton violation. Pabon's codefendant DeJesus's redacted confession, when combined with Pabon's own confession and the limited number of codefendants allegedly involved in the shooting, may have created a damaging inference that DeJesus was accusing Pabon of being a shooter in the crime and violated Pabon's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses testifying against him. Further, we hold that Pabon is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his equitable tolling claim. The District Court misinterpreted the evidence before it, stating that Pabon had access to a Spanish speaking attorney when in fact he did not. Pabon's claim that he does not speak, read, or write in English exceeds the initial showing of extraordinary circumstances required by two other Courts of Appeals. See Diaz v. Kelly, 515 F.3d 149 (2d Cir. 2008), and Mendoza v. Carey, 449 F.3d 1065 (9th Cir.2006). He has also shown a significant degree of due diligence  including reaching out to an attorney he thought spoke Spanish (who did not) and requesting translation assistance multiple times despite the prison's repeated denials. While there is not enough evidence in the record to determine whether Pabon's language deficiency actually caused the delay in bringing his habeas claim, an evidentiary hearing is warranted.