Opinion
No. 3:02cv0075 AS
August 26, 2002
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
On January 25, 2002, pro se petitioner, John B. Fletcher, an inmate at the Maximum Control Complex (MCC) in Westville, Indiana, filed a petition seeking relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The Response filed on behalf of the respondent by the Attorney General of Indiana on July 31, 2002, demonstrates the necessary compliance with Lewis v. Faulkner, 689 F.2d 100 (7th Cir. 1982). The petitioner filed motions and a Traverse and Memorandum, respectively, on August 6 and August 15, 2002, which this Court has carefully examined. He also filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing. All of this will be dealt with in the processes here.
A workable beginning point for this case is the published opinion of the Supreme Court of Indiana in Fletcher v. State, 537 N.E.2d 1385 (Ind. 1989). The same was a unanimous opinion authored by then Justice Givan of the highest court in the State of Indiana. There appears to be a serious time problem here. The decision of the Supreme Court of Indiana was May 19, 1989. Thereafter, the petitioner returned to the state trial court and filed a petition for post-conviction relief under state law on May 18, 1992, which was denied after an evidentiary hearing on or about June 1, 1999. There was no appeal taken from that denial. The petitioner sought permission to file a successive petition for state post-conviction relief, and the Indiana Court of Appeals denied the same on September 28, 2001. There basically is a straightforward application of the statute of limitations in the AntiTerrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). See also Artuz v. Bennett, 531 U.S. 4 (2000). This petitioner is certainly entitled to any benefits under Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988), and under that rule, the earliest date that can be applied is January 20, 2002. The conviction here was final on August 17, 1989 under Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314 (1987). The statute of limitations here would have begun to run on April 24, 1996. As this petitioner's state convictions became final prior to the effective date of the AEDPA on April 24, 1996, he had one year from that date to file a petition for federal habeas relief. Gendron v. United States, 154 F.3d 672 (7th Cir. 1998). That one-year grace period expired on April 24, 1997. Newell v. Hanks, No. 00-1558 (7th Cir. March 12, 2002).
The petition for post-conviction relief was denied on June 1, 1999, and no appeal was taken. The state proceedings were concluded effective July 1, 1999, and there was one year from that date until July 1, 2000. Given the full benefit of Houston, the petition still remains untimely and there is no principled way to find a basis for tolling. See Tinker v. Hanks, 255 F.3d 4444 (7th Cir. 2001). Therefore, the petition is DENIED. IT IS SO ORDERED. Have Susan Johnson go through this one with a fine-toothed comb and embellish it if necessary.