Gaston
Gaston v. Palmer
Opinion
Opinion
I. Background
Gaston was found guilty by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury of one count of first degree murder in 1994, and sentenced to 29-years-to-life in state prison. He timely appealed. Although Gaston was appointed counsel for his direct appeal, he moved to act as his own attorney. After Gas- ton was warned, by both his appointed attorney and the Cali- fornia Court of Appeal, of the pitfalls of representing himself on appeal, the motion was granted. GASTON v. PALMER 8975 Acting as his own attorney, Gaston neglected to file a brief in support of his appeal. On February 9, 1996, the California Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for failure to file a brief. Gaston’s conviction became final on March 20, 1996, forty days after the dismissal by the Court of Appeal. See Cal. R. Ct. 24(b)(1), 28(e)(1). Because Gaston’s conviction became final before the effective date of AEDPA, the statute of limi- tations for the filing of his federal habeas application began to run on April 24, 1996, the date AEDPA went into effect, and expired (in the absence of tolling) on April 24, 1997. See Carey v. Saffold, 536 U.S. 214, 216-17 (2002).