Michael Angelo MORALES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Arthur CALDERON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee

Michael Angelo Morales, a California death-row inmate, appeals the federal district court’s dismissal of the majority of the claims he presented in his first habeas corpus petition in district court. The district court dismissed the claims because the California Supreme Court had denied them not only on the merits but also as untimely; they were therefore considered to be defaulted. This is an interlocutory appeal of the district court’s ruling. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b) and F.R.A.P. 5(a). We reverse the district court’s dismissal of the claims and remand for consideration of the merits because we find that the state court’s denial of the claims was not based on an adequate and independent state ground that bars federal habeas review.

BACKGROUND

In 1983, a California jury convicted Morales of first-degree murder, among other charges, and sentenced him to death. The California Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence by opinion on April 6, 1989, amended June 1,1989. People v. Morales, 48 Cal.3d 527 , 257 Cal.Rptr. 64 , 770 P.2d 244 (Cal.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 984 , 110 S.Ct. 520 , 107 L.Ed.2d 520 (1989). On June 6, 1989, the California…