Klee Orthel v. James Yates

Petitioner-Appellant Klee Christopher Orthel (“Orthel”) appeals an order of the district court granting Respondent-Appel-lee Warden James A. Yates’s (“the State”) motion to dismiss as untimely Orthel’s ha-beas petition. Orthel argues he is entitled to equitable tolling of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act’s (“AED-PA”) one-year statute of limitations due to mental incompetence. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1995, Orthel was convicted of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in violation of California Penal Code § 187. The trial court sentenced Orthel to twenty-nine years to life in prison, and Orthel appealed. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction in 1998, and the California Supreme Court denied review later that year.

Orthel sought no further relief until he filed a federal habeas petition on August 17, 2010, in which he raised a single claim of instructional error. The State moved to dismiss the petition as untimely, citing the one-year AEDPA bar, 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (d). Orthel opposed, arguing he was entitled to equitable tolling of the one-year bar due to mental incompetence. In support of his opposition, Orthel…