Virginia Criminal Lawyer Analysis of US Supreme Court Opinion about Criminal Appeal & Federal Habeas Corpus

Virginia Criminal Lawyer Analysis of US Supreme Court Opinion about Criminal Appeal & Federal Habeas Corpus

Holland v. Florida, 2010 U.S. LEXIS 4946 (U.S. June 14, 2010)

Factual Background:

A death row inmate has filed a writ of habeas corpus approximately five weeks late under the 1-year statute of limitations set forth in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) 28 U.S.C. 2244(d),which the District Court denied pointing one year statute of limitation.

The record facts reveal, inter alia, that Holland's court-appointed attorney, Bradley Collins, had failed to file a timely federal petition, despite Holland's many letters emphasizing the importance of doing so; that Collins apparently did not do the research necessary to find out the proper filing date, despite the fact that Holland had identified the applicable legal rules for him; that Collins failed to inform Holland in a timely manner that the State Supreme Court had decided his case, despite Holland's many pleas for that information; and that Collins failed to communicate with Holland over a period of years, despite Holland's pleas for responses to his letters. Meanwhile, Holland repeatedly requested that the state courts and the Florida bar remove Collins from his case, which has been denied by the court responding that Holland could not file any pro se papers with the court while he was represented by counsel, including papers seeking new counsel. Based on these and other record facts, Holland asked the Federal District Court to toll the AEDPA limitations period for equitable reasons. It refused, holding that he had not demonstrated the due diligence necessary to invoke equitable tolling. Affirming, the Eleventh Circuit held that, regardless of diligence, Holland's case did not constitute "extraordinary circumstances." Specifically, it held that when a petitioner seeks to excuse a late filing based on his attorney's unprofessional conduct, that conduct, even if grossly negligent, cannot justify equitable tolling absent proof of bad faith, dishonesty, divided loyalty, mental impairment, or the like.

Supreme Court's Opinion:

The Court first decided that timeliness provision in the federal habeas corpus statute is subject to equitable tolling.

Several considerations support the Court's holding. First, because AEDPA's "statute of limitations defense . . . is not 'jurisdictional,'" Day v. McDonough, 547 U.S. 198, 205, 213, 126 S. Ct. 1675, 164 L. Ed. 2d 376, it is subject to a "rebuttable presumption" in favor "of equitable tolling," Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 95-96, 111 S. Ct. 453, 112 L. Ed. 2d 435. The Eleventh Circuit's per se standard is too rigid. A "petitioner" is "entitled to equitable tolling" if he shows "(1) that he has been pursuing his rights diligently, and (2) that some extraordinary circumstance stood in his way" and prevented timely filing.

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