Phillip D. Williams v. Artis Ray Hobbs, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 12-1840
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Phillip D. Williams
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant
v.
Artis Ray Hobbs, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellee
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Pine Bluff
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Submitted: January 17, 2013
Filed: June 7, 2013
[Unpublished]
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Before BYE and MELLOY, Circuit Judges, and KOPF, District Judge.1
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PER CURIAM.
Phillip Williams appeals the district court's dismissal of his habeas corpus
petition as untimely. The issue before this Court is whether the district court properly
The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, United States District Court for the District1
of Nebraska, sitting by designation.

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determined that Williams is not entitled to equitable tolling. However, this issue is
now moot after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McQuiggin v. Perkins, No.
12-126, 569 U.S. ___, 2013 WL 2300806 (May 28, 2013), as Williams asserted newly
discovered evidence of actual innocence as the primary ground for his petition.
Therefore, we remand to the district court for a determination as to whether
Williams's new evidence meets the "demanding" actual-innocence standard. Id. at2
*12.
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We recognize that the magistrate judge indicated in a footnote that he doubted2
that Williams met the actual-innocence standard. However, the district court did not
discuss this finding and did not rely on this finding in its decision.
-2-

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