Samuel Quinton Bonner v. Tom Carey, Warden

Samuel Quinton Bonner appeals the district court’s dismissal of his habeas petition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and vacate and remand for further proceedings. We conclude that the California Superior Court denied Bonner’s petition as untimely when it said that he could have raised the petition’s claims in an earlier petition and that there “[wa]s no reason stated for any delay in this regard.” Under Pace v. DiGuglielmo, this means that Bonner’s petition was never “properly filed” for purposes of the tolling provision of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Accordingly, Bonner is not entitled to statutory tolling for the period from April 24, 1996, when the one-year statutory period began to run, to September 24, 1998, when he filed his federal petition. Thus, regardless of whether the district court misled Bonner concerning his options as to how to proceed with his “mixed” petition, the statute of limitations bars his petition unless he can show that he is entitled to equitable tolling. We remand to allow the district court to consider his arguments for equitable tolling.

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Background

Bonner , was convicted of first degree murder…