Socha v. Pollard

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing as untimely defendant’s habeas petition challenging his murder conviction after defendant had filed his habeas petition within 90-day extension of time for filing said petition that had been granted by different Dist. Ct. Judge in miscellaneous action filed by defendant. One-year jurisdictional period for filing habeas petitions is subject to equitable tolling, and Dist. Ct. placed too much weight on fact that defendant’s initial request for extension of time was filed before defendant had completed any sort of habeas petition. Thus, remand was required for determination as to whether equitable tolling applied where defendant asserted that: (1) pro bono group, which had originally indicated that it would file habeas petition on behalf od defendant, had only recently told him that it would not file said habeas petition; and (2) defendant’s placement in segregation unit at prison, with its limitations on use of prison library, prevented him from filing timely petition within original jurisdictional period.