Opinion
Civil No. 04CV2476 BTM (JFS).
September 20, 2005
ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION AND GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS AND DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY
Petitioner Robert Clifton Watson filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on December 13, 2004, challenging the decision to deny him parole. The Respondent moved to dismiss the petition as untimely under the one year statute of limitations set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation that the motion be granted. Watson filed objections. The Court has read the Report and Recommendation and Watson's objections and agrees that the petition was filed well outside the one year statute of limitations. The Court agrees with the analysis in the Report and Recommendation and adopts it as the decision of the Court. The Court notes that Watson still had time to file his federal habeas petition after the state supreme court denied his state habeas petition. All that he had to do was to convert his state petition into a federal petition. More time at the law library was unnecessary. Neither Watson's opposition to the motion to dismiss nor his objections set forth a meritorious basis for equitable tolling that would bring him within the one year period.
Therefore the Court ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation. The motion to dismiss is GRANTED. The clerk shall enter a final judgment dismissing the petition. A certificate of appealability is DENIED. IT IS SO ORDERED.