Williams v. Hobbs

Filing 52

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 47 and dismissing petition with prejudice. All pending motions are denied as moot. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 2/9/12. (kpr)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS

PINE BLUFF DIVISION

PHILLIP D. WILLIAMS,

ADC # 115975
v.

PETITIONER
No.5:11-cv-28-DPM

ARTIS RAY HOBBS, Director,

Arkansas Department of Correction

RESPONDENT

ORDER
The Court has considered Magistrate Judge Joe J. Volpe's Proposed
Findings and Recommendations, Document No. 47, and Phillip Williams's
objections, Document No. 49. The Court appreciates Judge Volpe's additional
work. After conducting a de novo review, which included listening to the
audio recording of the hearing on the equitable-tolling issue, the Court adopts
Judge Volpe's recommended disposition as its own. FED. R. ClV. P. 72(b)(3).
The record demonstrates that Williams did not exercise reasonable
diligence and that no extraordinary circumstances stood in his way to prevent
the timely filing of his habeas claims. The record, moreover, presents no issue
of attorney abandonment without notice. E.g., Maples v. Thomas, _ U.S. _ ,
2012 WL 125438 (18 January 2012). Williams knew in February 2010, when

he complained to the Committee on Professional Conduct, that his lawyer
was not proceeding on the state motion for new trial, much less the
alternative federal habeas petition that had also been discussed. At that point,
some four months before the latest date that the statute ran on a habeas
petition, diligence required Williams to move forward, either on his own or
with new counsel. He did not do so. Williams therefore cannot invoke the
doctrine of equitable tolling to save his otherwise procedurally-defaulted
claims. King v. Hobbs, _ F.3d _,2012 WL 246516 (8th Cir. 27 January 2012);
Rues v. Denney, 643 F.3d 618, 621 (8th Cir. 2011). Because it is time-barred

under the AEDPA's one-year statute of limitations, Williams's petition is
dismissed with prejudice. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). All pending motions are
denied as moot.
So Ordered.

D.P. Marshall Jr. j/
United States District Judge

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