Cross v. Sisto, No. 08-17324 (9th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePetitioner appealed the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that the district court incorrectly interpreted an earlier ruling by the California Supreme Court on one of his state habeas petitions. At issue was whether, when the the California Supreme Court denied a habeas petition with citations to Ex parte Swain, the denial was necessarily based on untimeliness. The court agreed with petitioner that the answer was no and that the district court did not correctly apply California law in determining that the California Supreme Court's denial of his petition with citation to Swain and People v. Duvall meant that petitioner's petition before the California Supreme Court was untimely. Because the federal statute of limitations was tolled during the pendency of timely filed state petitions, petitioner's federal petition was therefore timely, and the court reversed and remanded to the district court to consider the petition on the merits.
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