Clayborn Smith, Jr. v. Jonathan R. Walls, Warden, Menard Correctional Center

Clayborn Smith, an Illinois state prisoner serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, brought a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court dismissed his petition, finding that it was barred by the one-year statute of limitations under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). The district court, however, granted Smith a certificate of appeala-bility to address whether, in light of Artuz v. Bennett, 531 U.S. 4, 121 S.Ct. 361, 148 L.Ed.2d 213 (2000), a post-conviction petition dismissed by the Illinois courts as successive is…