Gray v. Waters

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SMALKIN, District Judge.

Convicted in 1989 of rape and burglary, the petitioner now seeks, for the first time, federal habeas corpus relief challenging his Maryland convictions. On September 2, 1998, the Clerk of Court received the instant petition for writ of habeas corpus, which was dated August 10, 1998. Under the so-called “mailbox rule”, see United States v. Dorsey, 988 F.Supp. 917, 919-20 (D.Md.1998), the Court is obliged to afford plaintiff the presumption that his petition was “filed” on its stated date, the Court thereby assuming that he handed it to prison officials…