The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued an opinion today holding that a credible claim of innocence tolls the statute of limitations under AEDPA, regardless of whether the petitioner was reasonably diligent in pursuing the writ. In Perkins v. McQuiggin (decision here), the court held:
Floyd Perkins, the petitioner-appellant, asks this Court to determine whether a credible claim of actual innocence, without more, warrants equitable tolling of AEDPA’s statute of limitations. This Court has previously held that it does, but the Warden asserts that a recent Supreme Court decision (editor: Holland) places an additional burden upon such prisoners. Specifically, the Warden argues, that even if a prisoner petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus makes a credible claim of actual innocence, the district court may not assess the merits of the claim unless the prisoner also pursued the writ with reasonable diligence. Because we find that such a reading would render the concept of equitable tolling nugatory, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
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