Williams v. Birkett, No. 10-1441 (6th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseIn 2003, petitioner pled guilty to unarmed robbery of $10 that occurred when he was 17 years old and had no prior criminal history. He suffered from A.D.H.D. and had been in special education since first grade. After being sentenced to “boot camp,” petitioner returned to court for violating rules. After a 20-minute hearing, at which supporters offered counseling and employment, the judge sentenced him to 1 to 15 years in prison. He served six years. He did not pursue direct appeal. The judgment became final in 2005. Efforts to obtain post-conviction relief in state court were unsuccessful. In September, 2006, a Michigan court rejected a second post-conviction motion as prohibited by state law. The supreme court denied appeal. In 2007, petitioner filed a pro se petition for habeas corpus. The district court found that the limitations period was tolled while the second motion was pending in state court despite the motion being barred. The court issued an unconditional writ on ineffective-assistance-of-counsel and due-process grounds. The Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded for determination of whether equitable tolling of 28 U.S.C. 2244(d)(2) applies. The second motion could not be accepted and, therefore, was not “properly filed,” so the petition was not timely.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.