Holmes v. Miller

Background

Marvin Holmes, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 seeking federal habeas relief from a state-court judgment. The court referred the petition to Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. On July 11, 2023, Magistrate Judge Netburn issued a Report and Recommendation advising that the petition be denied in its entirety, that no certificate of appealability issue, and that any appeal be certified as not taken in good faith.

The parties had fourteen days to object to the Report and Recommendation, but no objections were filed. Because there were no objections, Judge Vyskocil reviewed the recommendation for clear error.

Court’s Analysis

The court found no clear error and agreed that the petition was time-barred. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act imposes a one-year statute of limitations on petitions challenging a state-court judgment. The court found that Holmes filed outside that period—more than ten years after his conviction became final.

The court also rejected equitable tolling, a possible extension of the filing deadline in extraordinary circumstances. Even assuming Holmes’s lawyer failed to tell him when his conviction became final, the court held that this alleged lack of legal assistance did not qualify as an extraordinary circumstance. The court further found that Holmes did not meet the actual-innocence exception, which requires showing that it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Rulings

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety as the court’s opinion. The habeas petition was denied. The court also denied a certificate of appealability because Holmes had not shown a denial of a constitutional right. It certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.