Juan X. High v. John Ignacio

Juan High appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . High’s state petition for post-conviction relief was dismissed by the Nevada trial court as untimely under Nevada Revised Statute 177.315(3), which required .Nevada petitioners for post-conviction relief to file their petition in the Nevada trial court “within 1 year after entry of judgment of - conviction or, if an appeal has been taken from such judgment, within 1 year after the final decision upon or pursuant to the appeal” whichever is later. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed this dismissal.

The district court then denied High’s federal habeas petition, holding that Nev. Rev. Stat. 177.315(3) was an independent and adequate state procedural rule that barred federal review of the NeJ vada court’s dismissal of High’s petition for post-conviction relief. Under the independent and adequate state procedural bar doctrine, a federal court will not review a question of federal law raised in a state court “if the decision of that court rests on a state law ground that is independent of the federal question and adequate to support the judgment.” Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 729…