Mark A. Jones v. Michael Shewmaker

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied and dismissed Mark A. Jones’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition as time-barred under AEDPA. The court rejected Jones’s arguments for statutory and equitable tolling, including diligence, newly discovered evidence, disabilities, and lack of legal assistance. The court also denied reconsideration of appointed counsel and declined to issue a certificate of appealability.

Holdings

1. The petition was untimely because Jones's one-year AEDPA limitations period began when the time for seeking direct review expired in approximately August 2010, but he did not file the federal petition until March 2025.
2. Jones's state habeas and post-conviction proceedings did not save the federal petition because they were initiated after the AEDPA limitations period had already expired.
3. Jones was not entitled to equitable tolling because he failed to show that he diligently pursued his rights or that an extraordinary circumstance prevented timely filing.
4. The motion for reconsideration of appointment of counsel was denied because the case was being dismissed as time-barred.
5. No certificate of appealability should issue because Jones failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Jones's 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition was barred by AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations.
2. Whether state habeas and other collateral proceedings tolled the AEDPA limitations period under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2).
3. Whether Jones established entitlement to equitable tolling based on diligence and extraordinary circumstances, including alleged attorney misconduct, newly discovered evidence, disabilities, and lack of assistance with legal filings.
4. Whether Jones was entitled to reconsideration of appointed counsel.
5. Whether Jones was entitled to a certificate of appealability.

Disposition

dismissed