Saunier

MEMORANDUM **

Arizona state prisoner Russell Edward Saunier appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition challenging his conviction by jury for first-degree murder and life sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 . We review de novo the district court’s denial of a habeas corpus petition for failure to comply with the one-year statute of limitations established in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), see Laws v. Lamarque, 351 F.3d 919, 922 (9th Cir.2003), and affirm.

Saunier contends he is entitled to equitable tolling because: (1) he was not aware and unable to discover that the trial judge had used marijuana and thereby prejudiced his case; (2) various circumstances involving a series of “jailhouse attorneys” caused unavoidable delay; and (3) he was without access to his trial transcripts for several unspecified periods due to his jailhouse attorneys’ circumstances and/or actions and the actions of the department of corrections.

First, it was not necessary for Saunier to know of the trial judge’s marijuana use in order to discover and assert his claims, because he was aware of the trial…