Timelines are an important part of the 11.07 writ of habeas corpus process.
Before we discuss the timelines, if you’ve not given the 11.07 writ of habeas corpus a try and you feel like you’re still within the timeline, do so now.
Or perhaps, you’ve filed a writ that turned out unsuccessful in the past, don’t be discouraged.
Take the shot when you feel the ball is rolling in your favor.
Or even if it’s your first time taking a shot, do that because it could be your only opportunity for freedom.
What are the Timelines Involved in the 11.07 Case?
When you have been convicted, and your case has gone through the direct appeal, which means you filed a notice of appeal or your lawyer filed a notice of appeal in the court of appeals, you’re on direct appeal.
During the direct appeal process, briefs are submitted.
The court will make a decision ultimately.
If that court affirms your conviction, then you have 30 days to file a petition for discretionary review in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
If your petition is rejected for discretionary review, you have 90 days to file a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
If you do that (or you don’t do taht) and the United States Supreme Court ultimately denies your petition, your case and conviction become final at that point.
If you didn’t file a petition for a writ of certiorari, for example, in the United States Supreme Court, you still get 90 days additional from the end of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejecting your case.
Then from those 90 days, a year timeline begins to run in which an 11.07 writ should be filed.
However, you are not required to file a petition for an application for a writ of habeas corpus within a year of that timeline because the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear an 11.07 writ of habeas corpus at any time after a conviction.
But there’s a downside to not filing within the year.
What if You Don’t File Within the Year?
Then you lose federal review under the Antiterrorism Effective Death Penalty Act.
The federal court will only review your case if you have filed your writ within one year, and then you’ve gotten to federal court within that one year.
Here’s how that works:
- Let’s say your conviction becomes final on January 1st.
- Then six months later, you file your application for an 11.07 writ of habeas corpus (which is on June 1st).
- When that is filed, your federal timeline for review stops, so the year does not count against you.
- The Texas Court of Criminal appeals hears your application.
- They ultimately deny your application for an 11.07 writ of habeas corpus.
- Your timeline starts again whenever you get that denial.
Let’s take, for example, that your denial was received on January 1st of the next year; then you have six months in which you can ask a federal district judge to look at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision and make a decision there on what’s called a Federal 2254 petition.
However, if you’re unable to get it within one year, your federal review is going to be barred.
So we advise you to pursue this diligently from the time that your direct appeal is filed.
Because whether you hire a lawyer or whether you do it yourself, ultimately you have to have the right amount of factual and legal research that goes into these 11.07 applications.
Ultimately
For the best result, you need to hire a lawyer to work on your 11.07 writ of habeas corpus as soon as your conviction becomes final.
This way you’re preserving as many of your rights as possible.
It’s not that you can’t file the 11.07 writ of habeas corpus later.
You can, and you can still get relief.
But you lose that federal review.
Because you want to preserve as many of your rights as possible, to take as many shots as you can at freedom, you want to make sure to follow these timelines the best you can.
Hiring a lawyer will help you get the best results for your loved one.
About The Attorney
Jacob Blizzard is board certified in both criminal law and criminal appellate law.
He regularly practices in the areas of state and federal criminal defense, criminal appeals, post conviction writs of habeas corpus.
In Texas, there are more than 100,000 attorneys licensed to practice, but only 7,450 are board certified.
In the entire State of Texas, as of the 2019 certification year, there were only 87 attorneys board certified in both criminal law and criminal appellate law, making Mr. Blizzard one of 0.087% of attorneys in Texas to hold both of those certifications.