Michael N. Corjasso, III v. Robert L. Ayers, Warden Attorney General of the State of California

Michael M. Corjasso, III is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in California state prison. Proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court on December 13, 1996. His petition was eventually dismissed as untimely pursuant to the one-year statute of limitations contained in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AED-PA”). See 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (d). We agree with Corjasso that he is entitled to equitable tolling of the statute of limitations. We therefore reverse the dismissal of his petition as untimely and remand for further proceedings.

I

Corjasso’s conviction became final on July 17, 1996. Sometime before December 1996, he filed his first federal petition for habeas corpus in the Northern District of California. Because Corjasso was incarcerated in the Eastern District of California, the Northern District correctly dismissed his petition for lack of jurisdiction. On December 13, 1996, Corjasso attempted to refile the same petition in the Eastern District court. He did not have a preprinted cover sheet from the Eastern District, so he used a cover sheet from the Northern…