Brian Keith Laws v. A.A. Lamarque, Warden

California inmate Brian Laws appeals the denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel at his 1993 murder trial, as untimely under the one-year limitations period for habeas petitions instituted by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (d). Because Laws has made a good-faith allegation that would, if true, entitle him to equitable tolling, we vacate the district court’s denial of the petition and remand for further factual development of his claim that the limitations period should be tolled because of his mental incompetency during the period in which he could have timely filed.

I

Laws was convicted after a jury trial on February 17, 1993, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, plus four years. Before trial the district court expressed concern about Laws’s competency and ordered psychiatric examinations and a hearing under California Penal Code § 1368. After receiving conflicting opinions from three psychiatrists and two psychologists, the court found Laws “for the present at least” competent to stand trial. Upon conviction, Laws took a timely…