Gibbs v. LeGrand, No. 12-16859 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, convicted of crimes ranging from manufacture of a controlled substance to possession of child pornography, appealed the district court's dismissal of his habeas petition because it was time-barred. In this case, petitioner's counsel did not inform him that state post-conviction proceedings had ended, even though counsel had pledged to do so, even though petitioner wrote his counsel repeatedly for updates, and even though time in which to file a federal habeas petition was swiftly winding down. Consequently, petitioner did not learn that the time for him to file his federal petition had begun until the limitations period was over. The court concluded that counsel's misconduct was an extraordinary circumstance which caused petitioner's inability to timely file his federal petition, and that petitioner exercised his reasonable diligence in pursuit of his post-conviction rights. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus. The panel reversed the district court’s order dismissing a habeas corpus petition as untimely, and remanded for consideration of the petition on the merits. The panel held that the petitioner’s attorney’s misconduct was an extraordinary circumstance which directly caused the petitioner not to learn that the time for him to file his federal habeas petition had begun until the time was over – where counsel did not inform the petitioner that state post- conviction proceedings had ended, even though counsel had pledged to do so, even though the petitioner wrote to his counsel repeatedly for updates, and even though the time in which to file a federal habeas petition was swiftly winding down. The panel also held that the petitioner exercised reasonable diligence in pursuit of his post-conviction rights both before and after learning of the Nevada Supreme Court’s denial of the appeal of his state post-conviction petition.
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