Gregory Dowdy v. Ben Curry

MEMORANDUM

Gregory Dowdy petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court dismissed his petition as untimely and denied a later motion to set aside this denial. Dowdy appeals, arguing that he was entitled to equitable tolling because his mental illness prevented him from filing a timely petition. We affirm.

Dowdy has not satisfied the test for equitable tolling under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AED-PA”) because he has not shown that (1) his mental impairment was an “extraordinary circumstance” that rendered him unable to either “personally understand the need to timely file” or “personally to prepare a habeas petition and effectuate its filing” and (2) despite his “diligence in pursuing the claims to the extent he could understand them, ... the mental impairment made it impossible to meet the filing deadline.” Bills v. Clark, 628 F.3d 1092, 1099-1100 (9th Cir.2010) (citing Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S. 631, 649 , 130 S.Ct. 2549 , 177 L.Ed.2d 130 (2010)).

As the district court found and the record supports, medication adequately controlled Dowdy’s mental impairment at least from 2002 to 2008. During this time, Dowdy’s Global…