Habeas Appeal Barred by Botched State Deadline
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a filing deadline for habeas petitions is not tolled while the inmate pursued a challenge in the state courts that was later dismissed because it was filed too late.
The court ruled in the case of inmate Daniel Siebert, convicted of killing Linda Jarman, a hearing-impaired student at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, SCOTUSblog reports. The court in its 7-2 summary ruling (PDF) said the result was dictated by a 2005 decision, according to the blog.
“When a postconviction petition is untimely under state law, that is the end of the matter for purposes” of the habeas filing deadline, the court said. “Whether a time limit is jurisdictional, an affirmative defense, or something in between” does not matter for purposes of the federal time limit, the court said.
Siebert has also been convicted of killing Jarman’s neighbor, Sherri Weathers, and her two children, WSFA 12 reports.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty reports that Siebert has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is in critical condition.
Siebert’s lawyers contend his cancer drugs would interact with the lethal injection cocktail and cause excruciating pain.
