Ibrahn Ben Miranda v. Ray Castro, Warden Attorney General of the State of California

We are asked to decide whether a habe-as petitioner’s rebanee on the erroneous advice of appointed counsel is sufficient to warrant equitable tolling of the one-year statute of limitations on filing a federal habeas corpus petition.

I

Following a jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, petitioner Ibrahn Ben Miranda was convicted on two counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder. The jury also found, as to all counts, that Miranda personally used a handgun in the commission of the crimes. He was sentenced to eighty-nine years to life in state prison.

Miranda appealed his conviction to the California Court of Appeal. In an unpublished opinion dated April 23, 1999, that court affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Miranda also filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court, which that court summarily denied on July 15,1999.

Miranda next filed the federal petition that gives rise to this appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on December 5, 2000. The Warden argued that the petition was untimely filed, and moved to dismiss it. Magistrate Judge Andrew Wistrich filed a Report and Recommendation in…