Moises Espinosa v. Secretary, Department of Corrections , 804 F.3d 1137 ( 2015 )


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  •               Case: 14-10581     Date Filed: 10/23/2015    Page: 1 of 11
    [PUBLISH]
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
    ________________________
    No. 14-10581
    ________________________
    D.C. Docket No. 2:13-cv-14192-JEM
    MOISES ESPINOSA,
    Petitioner-Appellant,
    versus
    SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,
    Respondent-Appellee.
    ________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Southern District of Florida
    ________________________
    (October 23, 2015)
    Before MARCUS, WILLIAM PRYOR, and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
    WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judge:
    The issue in this appeal is whether Moises Espinosa’s state petition for
    belated appeal tolled the one-year limitation period for filing a federal petition for a
    writ of habeas corpus. A jury convicted Espinosa of two counts of sexual battery
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    on a child and the state intermediate appellate court affirmed. Espinosa moved for
    state postconviction relief, and the state trial court dismissed his motion for failure
    to state a claim. When Espinosa appealed that dismissal several months later, the
    state appellate court ruled that his appeal was untimely, treated his filing as a
    petition for belated appeal, Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(c), and denied it. Espinosa then
    filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the district court
    dismissed as untimely. Because Espinosa’s petition for belated appeal did not
    involve “collateral review” of his conviction, it did not toll the one-year limitation
    period of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d).
    We affirm.
    I. BACKGROUND
    A Florida jury convicted Espinosa of two counts of sexual battery on a child
    under the age of 12 by a person 18 years of age or older, Fla. Stat. § 794.011(2)(a).
    A judge sentenced him to consecutive life sentences. Espinosa appealed and
    argued that the trial court erred when it did not allow Espinosa to impeach a
    witness’s credibility with a prior inconsistent statement. The intermediate appellate
    court affirmed. See Espinoza v. State, 
    37 So. 3d 387
    (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2010). On
    October 21, 2010, the Florida Supreme Court denied his petition for review.
    Espinoza v. State, 
    47 So. 3d 1288
    (Fla. 2010) (unpublished table decision).
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    On March 11, 2011, Espinosa filed a motion for postconviction relief under
    Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 on the ground of newly discovered
    evidence. Espinosa asserted that the victim recanted her testimony after his
    conviction. On June 29, 2011, the trial court dismissed his motion without
    prejudice because the motion was unsworn and failed to state valid claims.
    Espinosa then filed an amended motion with an affidavit. On February 17, 2012,
    the trial court dismissed the amended motion as well. The trial court granted
    Espinosa a final opportunity to file a sufficient motion by May 1, 2012.
    On March 2, 2012, Espinosa filed a notice of supplemental information to
    address one defect in his amended motion. The trial court dismissed the notice on
    March 15, 2012, and stated that Espinosa must file a single, comprehensive motion
    that was both facially and legally sufficient. On April 10, 2012, Espinosa filed a
    motion to quash the order that dismissed his notice of supplemental information.
    The trial court denied the motion on April 30, 2012. Espinosa did not file a second
    amended motion.
    On September 13, 2012, Espinosa filed a notice of appeal from the order
    denying his Rule 3.850 motion. On October 26, 2012, the appellate court
    determined that Espinosa’s notice of appeal appeared to be untimely and ordered
    him to file within 20 days a petition for belated appeal or a copy of a more recent
    order that could be timely appealed. On November 8, 2012, Espinosa filed a
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    petition for belated appeal, and on November 30, 2012, the appellate court
    redesignated his earlier notice of appeal as a petition for belated appeal. On
    February 6, 2013, the appellate court denied Espinosa’s petition for belated appeal.
    On May 2, 2013, Espinosa filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas
    corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court denied Espinosa’s petition. The district
    court ruled that Espinosa’s petition was untimely because 387 untolled days passed
    between the date Espinosa’s conviction became final and the date he filed his
    federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court ruled that Espinosa’s
    petition for belated appeal did not toll the limitation period because the Florida
    appellate court denied the petition. The district court issued a certificate of
    appealability on the issue whether a petition for belated appeal, under Florida Rule
    of Appellate Procedure 9.141(c), tolls the limitation period when the petition for
    belated appeal is denied.
    II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
    We review de novo a dismissal of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus as
    untimely. Cramer v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 
    461 F.3d 1380
    , 1383 (11th Cir. 2006).
    III. DISCUSSION
    The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act provides a “1-year
    period of limitation . . . [for] an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person
    in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The
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    period runs from the latest of four dates, including, as applies here, “the date on
    which the judgment became final by the conclusion of direct review or the
    expiration of the time for seeking such review.” 
    Id. § 2244(d)(1)(A).
    “The time
    during which a properly filed application for State post-conviction or other
    collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim is pending shall
    not be counted toward any period of limitation . . . .” 
    Id. § 2244(d)(2).
    There is no dispute that at least 241 days of untolled time passed between
    the date Espinosa’s conviction became final and the date he filed his federal
    petition. Espinosa’s conviction became final on January 19, 2011, 90 days after the
    judgment of the Florida Supreme Court, when his time for filing a certiorari
    petition in the United States Supreme Court expired. See Sup. Ct. R. 13.1. On
    March 11, 2011, 51 untolled days later, Espinosa moved for postconviction relief
    in the state trial court. The order dismissing Espinosa’s motion became final on
    May 1, 2012, when Espinosa failed to file a second amended motion. Espinosa had
    until May 31, 2012, to file a timely appeal. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.140(b)(3). When
    he failed to do so, 105 more days of untolled time passed before Espinosa filed a
    petition for belated appeal on September 13, 2012. The state appellate court denied
    that petition on February 6, 2013. Then, an additional 85 days of untolled time
    passed before Espinosa filed his federal habeas petition on May 2, 2013.
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    The parties dispute whether Espinosa’s petition for a belated appeal tolled
    the one-year limitation period for the 146 days while it was pending. If it did, his
    petition was timely. If it did not, then a total of 387 untolled days passed and
    Espinosa’s federal petition came 22 days too late.
    To toll the one-year limitation period under section 2244(d)(2), a proceeding
    must be a “properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral
    review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2).
    An application is filed “when it is delivered to, and accepted by, the appropriate
    court officer for placement into the official record,” and it is properly filed “when
    its delivery and acceptance are in compliance with the applicable laws and rules
    governing filings.” Artuz v. Bennett, 
    531 U.S. 4
    , 8, 
    121 S. Ct. 361
    , 363–64 (2000).
    “Collateral review” is “a judicial reexamination of a judgment or claim in a
    proceeding outside of the direct review process.” Wall v. Kholi, __ U.S. __, 131 S.
    Ct. 1278, 1285 (2011). In Wall v. Kholi, the Supreme Court ruled that a motion to
    reduce sentence under Rhode Island law is an application for collateral review that
    triggers the tolling provision of the Act. 
    Id. at 1287.
    The Supreme Court reasoned
    that the phrase “collateral review” does not refer only to proceedings that challenge
    the “lawfulness” of a prior judgment. 
    Id. Kholi’s motion
    to reduce sentence
    triggered a proceeding that was both “collateral” and a “review” of the sentence,
    
    id. at 1286–87,
    because it was “not part of the direct review process,” 
    id. at 1286,
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    required a judge “to determine whether a more lenient sentence is proper,” 
    id., and allowed
    that judge to “disturb the trial justice’s decision,” 
    id. at 1285.
    The Court
    distinguished a motion to reduce sentence from “a motion for post-conviction
    discovery or a motion for appointment of counsel, which generally are not direct
    requests for judicial review of a judgment and do not provide a state court with
    authority to order relief from a judgment.” 
    Id. at 1286
    n.4; see also Brown v. Sec’y
    for the Dep’t of Corrs., 
    530 F.3d 1335
    , 1337 (11th Cir. 2008) (holding that a post-
    conviction motion for DNA testing was not an “application for post-conviction or
    other collateral review” (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2))).
    Espinosa’s petition for belated appeal is not an “application for State post-
    conviction or other collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment,” 28
    U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2). “[R]eview of a petition for belated appeal does not reach the
    merits of the anticipated appeal or the validity of the order to be appealed, but
    instead reviews the grounds for relieving the petitioner of his or her failure to
    timely seek such an appeal.” Jones v. State, 
    922 So. 2d 1088
    , 1090 (Fla. Dist. Ct.
    App. 2006). “[I]t challenges events that occur after the final order is rendered.” 
    Id. An appellate
    court decides that a petitioner is entitled to belated appeal by
    considering whether his lawyer failed to file a timely appeal upon request, his
    lawyer misadvised him as to the availability of review, or there were
    “circumstances unrelated to [his] counsel[] . . . that were beyond the petitioner’s
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    control and otherwise interfered with the petitioner’s ability to file a timely
    appeal.” Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(c)(4)(F). A petitioner seeking belated appeal does
    not need “to allege that the issues that would be presented on appeal are potentially
    meritorious.” State v. Trowell, 
    739 So. 2d 77
    , 80 (Fla. 1999). The appellate court
    considering the petition does not reexamine the underlying judgment or claim, and
    a ruling on the petition cannot make “amendment[s] or improvement[s]” to the
    terms of custody. 
    Kholi, 131 S. Ct. at 1285
    (quoting Kholi v. Wall, 
    582 F.3d 147
    ,
    153 (1st Cir. 2009)) (internal quotation mark omitted). Accordingly, a petition for
    belated appeal is not an application for collateral review within the meaning of
    section 2244(d).
    Our reasoning mirrors how a Florida court would treat a petition for a
    belated direct appeal in determining the timeliness of a state motion for collateral
    review. That is, an unsuccessful petition for belated appeal of a criminal
    conviction, under Florida law, does not toll the limitation period for state collateral
    review. See 
    Jones, 922 So. 2d at 1089
    –90. Unlike motions for a new trial, for
    rehearing, or to correct a sentence, which do toll the rendition of a final order, a
    petition for belated appeal “does not challenge directly any specific ruling” in the
    criminal case. 
    Id. at 1090.
    In the same way, filing a petition for belated appeal of
    an order denying state collateral relief does not toll the federal limitation period for
    a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
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    We reject Espinosa’s argument that if we were to hold that a petition for
    belated appeal does not toll the limitation period, our ruling would conflict with the
    need to exhaust state remedies. He argues that some petitioners would file federal
    petitions before obtaining permission to pursue a belated appeal under state law.
    But the Supreme Court has instructed courts to balance the interest in “exhaustion
    of state remedies” with “the interest in the finality of state court judgments.”
    Duncan v. Walker, 
    533 U.S. 167
    , 178, 
    121 S. Ct. 2120
    , 2127 (2001); see also
    Bridges v. Johnson, 
    284 F.3d 1201
    , 1203 (11th Cir. 2002). “Congress’s overriding
    purpose in enacting AEDPA . . . [was] ‘to achieve finality in criminal cases, both
    federal and state.’” Murphy v. United States, 
    634 F.3d 1303
    , 1309 (11th Cir. 2011)
    (quoting Jones v. United States, 
    304 F.3d 1035
    , 1039 (11th Cir. 2002)). Espinosa’s
    proffered interpretation of the Act would allow a state prisoner to “toll the statute
    of limitations at will simply by filing [petitions to file] untimely state
    postconviction petitions.” Pace v. DiGuglielmo, 
    544 U.S. 408
    , 413, 
    125 S. Ct. 1807
    , 1812 (2005). “This would turn § 2244(d)(2) into a de facto extension
    mechanism, quite contrary to the purpose of AEDPA, and open the door to abusive
    delay.” 
    Id. Our opinion
    in Moore v. Crosby, 
    321 F.3d 1377
    (11th Cir. 2003), also does
    not support Espinosa’s argument. In Moore, we considered a different issue:
    whether a petition for belated appeal, which was filed after the one-year limitation
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    period had already expired and was later granted by the state appellate court, could
    retroactively toll the one-year limitation period. 
    Id. at 1379–80.
    We held that “an
    out-of-time appeal does not revive the time during which no state collateral
    petition was pending.” 
    Id. at 1380.
    We discussed a decision of the Fifth Circuit that
    had reached a similar holding, and we stated that “the Fifth Circuit concluded
    that after the appeal period lapsed, an application ceased to be pending, but that a
    subsequently properly filed application entitled the petitioner to additional tolling
    beginning at the time of the proper filing.” 
    Id. (citing Melancon
    v. Kaylo, 
    259 F.3d 401
    , 407 (5th Cir. 2001)). But the Fifth Circuit described a procedural posture
    materially different from Espinosa’s appeal: the state court had granted an
    untimely application and then considered the merits of the underlying claim for
    collateral relief. See 
    Melancon, 259 F.3d at 403
    , 407.
    In other jurisdictions, motions to appeal out of time have tolled the one-year
    limitation period when, unlike here, the state courts permitted the untimely
    applications. See, e.g., Gibson v. Klinger, 
    232 F.3d 799
    , 802–03 (10th Cir. 2000);
    Fernandez v. Sternes, 
    227 F.3d 977
    (7th Cir. 2000). In Fernandez v. Sternes, the
    Seventh Circuit addressed the tolling effect of a “motion for permission to file a
    late petition for leave to appeal” that was granted and “treated as a petition for
    leave to 
    appeal.” 227 F.3d at 979
    . The Seventh Circuit concluded that the motion
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    tolled the federal limitation period because the state court “excused the
    untimeliness as a matter of state law and ruled on the merits.” 
    Id. at 981.
    When the state appellate court denied Espinosa’s petition for belated appeal,
    it never considered the merits of his underlying claims. Espinosa’s petition for
    belated appeal never triggered a reexamination of his conviction or sentence and,
    as a result, failed to toll the federal limitation period. Espinosa’s federal habeas
    petition was untimely.
    IV. CONCLUSION
    We AFFIRM the dismissal of Espinosa’s petition.
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