Fisher v. Clements, et al, No. 13-1144 (10th Cir. 2014)
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Michael Fisher filed a post-conviction application, but the state district court waited over eight years to rule on it. The Respondents argued that by failing to ask for an expeditious ruling, Fisher abandoned the post-conviction proceedings. The issue this case presented to the Tenth Circuit was whether a state post-conviction application remains “pending” when it could have been (but wasn’t) dismissed on grounds of abandonment? The Court concluded that the application does remain pending in these circumstances. Thus, the limitations period was tolled while the post-conviction application worked its way through the state courts. Because the federal district court drew the opposite conclusion, the Tenth Circuit reversed.
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