Hugh Garcia v. James Yates

MEMORANDUM

California state prisoner Hugh Garcia appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition as untimely. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

Garcia contends that he is entitled to equitable tolling due to the absence of Spanish language legal materials in the prison law library. This claim fails because, although Garcia has submitted some evidence that he attempted to procure both legal assistance and legal materials in Spanish, he has not shown that, throughout the period for which tolling is sought, he was diligently pursuing “either legal materials in his own language or translation assistance from an inmate, library personnel, or other source.” Mendoza v. Carey, 449 F.3d 1065, 1070 (9th Cir.2006).

Garcia also claims that he is entitled to equitable tolling due to his mental incompetence. Garcia has presented considerable evidence that he suffers from a delusional disorder. Moreover, the crux of the claims in his petition is that his constitutional rights were violated when he was permitted to represent himself at trial notwithstanding this disorder. For these reasons, remand…