Dean Evan Ferguson v. Joan Palmateer, Superintendent Oregon State Penitentiary

Ferguson, an Oregon prisoner, filed a petition for habeas corpus relief, raising claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct. The district court dismissed his petition as time barred. Ferguson argues that the federal one-year statute of limitations should be extended to allow full application of Oregon’s two-year statute of limitations. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 , 2254. We have jurisdiction over this timely filed appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . We affirm.

I.

Ferguson pled guilty to two counts of sodomy in the second degree, two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, and one count of sexual abuse in the first degree. On August 4, 1995, Ferguson’s state convictions became final. OR. REV. STAT. § 138.510(3)(a). The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) one-year grace period ended on April 24, 1997. Patterson v. Stewart, 251 F.3d 1243, 1246 (9th Cir.2001). On July 29, 1997, Ferguson filed his petition for state post-conviction relief, within Oregon’s two-year statute of limitations, OR. REV. STAT. § 138.510(3), but beyond AEDPA’s one-year statute of limitations.…