Anthony Butler v. David Long

Petitioner-appellant Anthony Butler filed two federal habeas petitions relating to the same state-court conviction, the first on October 5, 2008, and the second on September 21, 2009. The district court dismissed the first petition, which contained both exhausted and unexhausted claims, without offering Butler the option of amending his petition to exclude the unexhausted claims. The same court denied Butler’s second federal habeas petition as untimely. Butler appeals the dismissal of his second petition, arguing that because the district court dismissed his first petition without first providing him an opportunity to amend the petition, he is entitled to equitable tolling from the date the district court dismissed his first federal habeas petition until the filing of his second petition. Because we hold that equitable tolling renders at least one claim raised in Butler’s second petition timely, we reverse and remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.

Background

Butler was convicted of attempted premeditated murder by a Los Angeles Coun ty jury on October 28, 2005. On June 23, 2006, the California Court of Appeal rejected…