Medley v. Thaler, No. 08-11009 (5th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner appealed the dismissal of his habeas petition as untimely filed under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C. 2244(d). Petitioner argued that the court should treat his petition as having been timely filed because his prior unsuccessful effort to mail a habeas petition through his prison mail room, prior to the expiration of the one-year statute of limitations, entitled him to the benefits of the mailbox rule or equitable tolling of the statute of limitations. The court held that petitioner attempted to mail his petition in a manner consistent with the mail regulations, and that he was prevented from doing so because prison mail room officials wrongfully returned it for failure to comply with a nonexistent prison mail regulation. Accordingly, the court agreed that petitioner should have been afforded the benefit of the mailbox rule and that his petition should have been considered timely filed. Therefore, the court reversed the dismissal of the petition and remanded to the district court for further proceedings.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on November 9, 2010.
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