Ali v. Miller

Background

Clifford Ali, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his conviction in New York Supreme Court, Westchester County. The order states that Ali alleged a July 16, 2018 conviction, while court records showed that the New York Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed the conviction on March 31, 2021, and that the New York Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal on June 8, 2021.

Timeliness issue

A person seeking federal habeas relief under § 2254 generally has one year to file the petition, measured from the latest of several events listed in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). The court concluded that Ali’s conviction became final on September 8, 2021, after the period for seeking review by the Supreme Court expired. Under the prison-mailbox rule, the court treated the petition as filed on August 27, 2024, when Ali placed it in the prison mail collection box.

The court stated that state post-conviction motions filed before the federal limitations period expires can pause the limitations period while those proceedings are pending. Motions filed after the period expires do not restart it. Ali did not allege that he filed any such state motions before September 8, 2022, when the one-year period expired. The court therefore found that the petition may be time barred.

Order

The court directed Ali to file, within 60 days of the order, a declaration explaining why the petition should not be dismissed as time barred. The declaration must list relevant state post-conviction filings, state-court decisions, appeals or requests for permission to appeal, and the dates when Ali received notice of those decisions. Ali may also provide facts supporting equitable tolling, which can extend a filing deadline when he pursued his rights diligently and an extraordinary circumstance prevented timely filing.

The court did not dismiss the petition in this order. It stated that, if Ali timely files an adequate declaration, the court will review it and, if appropriate, order Mark Miller to respond. If Ali does not comply, cannot show good cause for failing to comply, or submits an insufficient declaration, the court will deny the petition as time barred. No answer is required at this stage.

The court also stated that a certificate of appealability would not issue because Ali had not yet made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied. It certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.

Judge

The order was signed by Laura Taylor Swain, Chief United States District Judge.