Court Opinion

ID: 997696
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:00:24.833507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:05:49.331733
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

CHARLES ALBERT HARRIS,
Petitioner-Appellant,

v.
                                                                      No. 98-6662
JAMES RIVER CORRECTIONAL CENTER,
WARDEN,
Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Richmond.
James R. Spencer, District Judge.
(CA-97-722-R)

Submitted: December 15, 1998

Decided: January 29, 1999

Before LUTTIG and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and
PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Charles Albert Harris, Appellant Pro Se. Linwood Theodore Wells,
Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).
OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Charles Albert Harris appeals the district court's order denying his
28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (West 1994 & Supp. 1998) petition as untimely
under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d) (West Supp. 1998). A Richmond Circuit
Court jury convicted Harris of four counts of grand larceny in June
1991, and Harris executed his first state habeas corpus petition on
March 26, 1997. After the denial of his state petition, Harris filed his
§ 2254 petition with the district court on September 8, 1997.

In denying the § 2254 petition as untimely, the district court did not
have the benefit of our recent decision in Brown v. Angelone, 150
F.3d 370 (4th Cir. 1998). In Brown, we held that prisoners such as
Harris whose convictions became final prior to the effective date of
the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L.
No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, had a full year, until April 23, 1997, to
file § 2254 petitions. Id. at 375-76. In addition, the one-year limitation
period is tolled during the pendency of a properly filed state post-
conviction proceeding. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2244(d)(1), (2) (West Supp.
1998). Here, then, since Harris properly filed his state habeas corpus
petition twenty-eight days prior to April 23, 1997, he was accorded
until September 10, 1997, to timely file his § 2254 petition with the
district court--twenty-eight days from the August 13, 1997, denial of
his state habeas petition. Because the § 2254 petition was filed on
September 8, 1997, we conclude the petition was timely.

Accordingly, we grant a certificate of appealability, vacate the dis-
trict court's order denying the petition as untimely, and remand the
matter for further proceedings. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.

VACATED AND REMANDED

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