Smith v. Williams, No. 15-16967 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of petitioner's habeas petition as time-barred. In this case, the state trial court entered a second Amended Judgment reinstating petitioner's murder and attempted murder convictions after the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the state trial court's amended judgment overturning and vacating the convictions. The panel held that petitioner's habeas petition was timely filed because "the judgment" under 28 U.S.C. 2244(d)(1) can only refer to the state judgment pursuant to which the petitioner was being held because that was the only judgment identified in the statute-of-limitations provision. Therefore, the statute of limitations must run from the judgment pursuant to which the petitioner was being held. In this case, the Second Amended Judgment started a new one-year statute of limitations, and thus the petition was timely. The panel remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus. The panel reversed the district court’s judgment dismissing as untimely Taniko Smith’s federal habeas corpus petition, and remanded for further proceedings, in a case in which the state trial court entered a Second Amended Judgment reinstating Smith’s murder and attempted murder convictions after the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the state trial court’s amended judgment overturning and vacating the convictions. The panel held that Smith’s federal petition challenging his conviction and sentence under the Second Amended Judgment was timely filed. The panel explained that “the judgment” in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1) can only refer to the state judgment pursuant to which the petitioner is being held, and that the statute of limitations must therefore run from the judgment pursuant to which the petitioner is being held. The panel observed that the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion when determining in Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 320 (2010), how to decide whether a petition challenging a prisoner’s state conviction is second or successive. The panel wrote that it is of no moment that the Second Amended judgment reinstated counts on which Smith had originally been convicted rather than adding new counts of conviction. SMITH V. WILLIAMS 3
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