Maes v. Chavez

• Decision Date: 07 July 2015
• Docket Number: No. 13–16523.,13–16523.
• Citation: 792 F.3d 1132
• Parties: Christopher Joseph MAES, Petitioner–Appellant, v. Frank X. CHAVEZ, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

792 F.3d 1132

Christopher Joseph MAES, Petitioner–Appellant
v.
Frank X. CHAVEZ, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.

No. 13–16523.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 13, 2015.
Filed July 7, 2015.

792 F.3d 1132

Faye Arfa (argued), Los Angeles, CA, for Petitioner–Appellant.

792 F.3d 1133

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General; Michael P. Farrell, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Brian G. Smiley and Michael A. Canzoneri, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General; Justin Riley (argued), Deputy Attorney General, Sacramento, CA; for Respondent–Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Kimberly J. Mueller, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 2:12–cv–01634–KJM–DAD.

Before: ALEX KOZINSKI and SUSAN P. GRABER, Circuit Judges, and MICHAEL A. PONSOR,^* Senior District Judge.

OPINION

PONSOR, District Judge:

After his state court conviction became final on April 12, 2011, Petitioner Christopher Maes had one year to file any federal habeas corpus petition. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Two days shy of one year, Maes filed a petition for habeas corpus in the state superior court. The period during which this “properly filed” state petition was “pending” was not counted against the year that Maes had to file his federal petition. Id. § 2244(d)(2). This uncounted period ended on May 7, 2012, when the Superior Court of Shasta County, California, denied his state habeas petition, leaving Maes two days to file for federal habeas relief. Because Maes waited until May 15, 2012, to file a federal petition, the district court dismissed it as untimely. Maes now appeals, arguing that he had at least sixty days after the denial of his state habeas petition to file for federal habeas relief. We disagree and affirm the district court's decision to dismiss.

I.

The procedural background of this case may be succinctly summarized. On April 8, 2009, Christopher Maes was convicted by a jury in Shasta County, California, of failing to provide notice of a change of address as a registered sex offender. As a three-time serious felon, Maes was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in state prison. Cal.Penal Code § 1170.12(c)(2)(A).

Maes unsuccessfully sought direct appellate review. On October 21, 2010, the California Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction. The California Supreme Court denied his next appeal on January 12, 2011. Maes had ninety days to seek further direct review via a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. Maes did not take this step, and it is now undisputed that, for statute of limitations purposes, the direct appeal of his conviction became final on April 12, 2011. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A).

Pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), federal habeas petitions are subject to a one-year statute of limitations. Id. § 2244(d). This one-year clock began ticking for Maes on April 13, 2011.

As noted above, on April 10, 2012, two days before the end of the one-year limitations period, Maes filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the state superior court. On May 7, 2012, the Shasta County Superior Court denied this petition. Under California law, Maes had the right to present a new state habeas petition to the next level of the California court system. Maes, however, chose not to file any further petition in state court. Instead, he decided to file a petition for habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court

792 F.3d 1134

for the Eastern District of California on May 15, 2012.

Respondent moved to dismiss the federal petition as time-barred. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's Report & Recommendation and dismissed the petition, finding that the statute of limitations had expired. This ruling is now before us.

II.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253. We review de novo a dismissal of a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Spitsyn v. Moore, 345 F.3d 796, 799 (9th Cir.2003).

Under AEDPA, the one-year statute of limitations begins to run on the date when the state-court conviction becomes final. Id. § 2244(d)(1)(A). To accommodate any collateral state court habeas proceeding, however, the statute provides that the “time during which a properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim is pending shall not be counted toward any period of limitation.” Id. § 2244(d)(2).

The California habeas process contains a wrinkle that somewhat complicates the calculation of this uncounted period. Unlike other states, California does not have a statutorily mandated deadline by which a petitioner must file a notice of appeal to a higher state court of a lower court's denial of a habeas petition. Instead, each level in the California judicial system has original jurisdiction. Cal. Const. art. VI, § 10. To obtain review of an adverse ruling, a petitioner must file a new petition to each subsequent court within a reasonable time of the...