Theresa Batson v. Florida Department of Corrections

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: October 28, 2024
• Docket: 23-13367
• Status: Published

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 1 of 22

[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 21-14257 ____________________

MICHAEL LAWRENCE CASSIDY, Petitioner-Appellant, versus SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,

Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 4:20-cv-00131-WS-HTC ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 2 of 22

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No. 23-13367 ____________________

THERESA BATSON, Petitioner-Appellant, versus FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 2:22-cv-14354-BB ____________________

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LUCK and HULL, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: These consolidated appeals require us to decide whether two state prisoners’ federal petitions for writs of habeas corpus are timely. Theresa Batson and Michael Cassidy contend that their pe- titions are timely because the state courts amended their USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 3 of 22

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judgments and sentences after the vacatur of one count of their original judgments. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). The district courts dis- missed their petitions as untimely after deciding that the state courts issued those amended judgments and sentences nunc pro tunc to the date of their original judgments. We held, in Osbourne v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, that we must defer to a state court’s designation of an amended sentence as nunc pro tunc. 968 F.3d 1261, 1266–67, 1266 n.4 (11th Cir. 2020). Because the state court in Batson’s case designated her amended sentences as nunc pro tunc, her federal petition is untimely. And because the state court in Cassidy’s case did not designate his amended judgment and sentence as nunc pro tunc, his federal petition is timely. We af- firm the dismissal of Batson’s petition, but we vacate Cassidy’s dis- missal and remand for further proceedings. I. BACKGROUND These consolidated appeals involve two state prisoners con- victed of unrelated crimes: Theresa Batson and Michael Cassidy. Despite their separate factual and procedural histories, these ap- peals present overlapping questions about nunc pro tunc orders and when amended judgments and sentences restart the statute of lim- itations under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. As background, we explain the facts that gave rise to Batson’s ap- peal before doing the same for Cassidy’s appeal. A. Batson’s Appeal Theresa Batson challenges her state convictions for solicit- ing the murder of her boyfriend and his brother. On May 20, 2010, USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 4 of 22

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a jury convicted Batson on two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of soliciting first-degree mur- der. The state trial court entered a judgment and sentences against her on July 1, 2010. These documents adjudicated Batson guilty of all four counts and sentenced her to 30 years in prison on each count. Count one was a 30-year sentence; count two ran consecu- tive to count one; count three ran concurrent with count one; and count four ran consecutive to count one but concurrent with count two. So Batson faced a total sentence of 60 years in prison. The state appellate court affirmed and issued its mandate on May 25, 2012. Batson next sought state post-conviction relief. On June 7, 2013, Batson filed a pro se motion for post-conviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 and alleged 19 claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The state post-conviction court— a different court than her original trial court—dismissed this mo- tion and a later amended motion. On February 1, 2017, the state appellate court reversed the denial of Batson’s claim that her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise a defense of double jeop- ardy and remanded. The post-conviction court entered an amended judgment on August 10, 2017, that vacated the guilty verdict on count one. The amended judgment restated that Batson was adjudicated guilty of counts two, three, and four but did not mention the sen- tences. The post-conviction court instructed the clerk on May 29, 2018, to prepare amended sentencing documents so that USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 5 of 22

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“Counts 2 and 4 . . . run concurrently with each other but consec- utive to the sentence imposed in Count 3.” It entered the amended sentences on June 5, 2018, and designated them as nunc pro tunc to July 1, 2010. Clerical errors led to two additional rounds of amended sentencing forms on June 7, 2018, and June 14, 2018, and the court also marked these nunc pro tunc to July 1, 2010. The amended sentences state that “[t]he Defendant is hereby commit- ted to the custody of the Department of Corrections.” The appellate court affirmed Batson’s amended judgment and sentences and issued its mandate on November 30, 2018. The sentence for count two remained 30 years but now ran consecutive to count three and concurrent with count four; count three re- mained 30 years; and count four remained 30 years but now ran consecutive to count three and concurrent with count two. Batson’s later challenges to her amended judgment and sen- tences under state law were unsuccessful. The state appellate court issued its mandate affirming the denial of Batson’s first post- amended-judgment motion on September 24, 2021, and rejected her motion to recall that mandate on November 15, 2021. On October 10, 2022, Batson filed a pro se federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus that alleged ineffective assistance of appel- late counsel. The state moved to dismiss the petition as untimely. It argued that more than a year of untolled time had passed since her original convictions became final and that the amended judg- ment and sentencing documents did not constitute a new USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 6 of 22

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judgment because they related back to the original judgment nunc pro tunc. The district court dismissed Batson’s petition as untimely. It ruled that Batson’s amended judgment and sentences related back to her original judgment because the state post-conviction court resentenced Batson nunc pro tunc and her prison term remained un- changed. It issued a certificate of appealability on one issue: “Did Petitioner’s Amended Judgment and Sentence restart the federal limitations period under AEDPA?” B. Cassidy’s Appeal Michael Cassidy challenges his state convictions for molest- ing his family member. On May 30, 2012, a jury convicted Cassidy of three counts of sexual battery while in a position of familial or custodial authority. The trial court orally issued a sentence of 25 years in prison for count one, and a consecutive sentence of 10 years in prison for count two, followed by 15 years of probation for count three. On August 8, 2012, the court entered a written judg- ment that adjudicated Cassidy guilty and that same document also contained the sentencing forms. The written sentence entered on August 8, 2012, however, misstated the count one sentence as 35 years. Cassidy appealed the substance of his conviction but did not yet challenge that clerical error. The state appellate court affirmed and issued its mandate on February 7, 2014. Meanwhile, the trial court separately corrected the sentenc- ing error. Cassidy filed a motion on March 10, 2014, under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c), to clarify that his total prison USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 7 of 22

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sentence should last only for 35, not 45, years based on the oral sentence. The trial court entered an order on April 7, 2014, granting this motion and stating that it was “Nunc Pro Tunc.” It then issued an amended sentence on May 16, 2014, that listed the correct sen- tence length of 25 years of imprisonment for count one and 10 years of imprisonment for count two to run consecutive to count one, followed by 15 years of probation for count three. Con- sistent with its nunc pro tunc nature, the amended sentence stated as follows: “DONE AND ORDERED in open court at Okaloosa County, Florida this 8th day of AUGUST 2012 and signed 16th day of May, 2014.” August 8, 2012, is the date of the original sentences. Cassidy later sought post-conviction relief in state court. He submitted a pro se motion for post-conviction relief on August 20, 2014, that alleged that his trial counsel had provided ineffective as- sistance. Following a limited evidentiary hearing, the state post- conviction court—the same trial court that had sentenced Cas- sidy—granted his motion in part on August 7, 2017. It ruled that Cassidy’s trial counsel had been ineffective in his defense of count three when he failed to check or introduce exculpatory evi- dence of Cassidy’s military deployment that had been provided to counsel more than a year before trial. These records established that Cassidy was in New Mexico during the time of the alleged mo- lestation in count three. The court vacated “[t]he judgment and sentence imposed on [c]ount [three],” but it rejected the rest of Cassidy’s claims. In response, the state dismissed nolle prosequi count three on August 28, 2017. USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 8 of 22

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The state post-conviction court next entered an amended judgment titled “AMENDED JUDGMENT.” Page one of the amended judgment left counts one and two unchanged but re- moved count three. Page two then reads “DONE AND ORDERED in open court in Okaloosa County, this 8th day of AUGUST 2012,” followed by the sentence of the court. The same document also contains the “2ND AMENDED” sentence forms as pages four through six. Notably, the final page concludes as fol- lows: “DONE AND ORDERED in open court at Okaloosa County, Florida this 8th day of AUGUST 2012 and signed __ day of __________, 2014.” Again, August 8, 2012, is the original sentenc- ing date. Although the state post-conviction court left this signa- ture date blank, it stamped page six with an e-signature dated Oc- tober 10, 2017. The sentencing forms left the sentences on counts one and two unchanged but removed the probation sen- tence on count three. The state appellate court affirmed the denial of Cassidy’s other claims and issued its mandate on March 7, 2019. Cassidy filed a pro se federal petition for a writ of habeas cor- pus on March 6, 2020. The magistrate judge stayed this federal ac- tion while Cassidy exhausted his state post-conviction claims. Cas- sidy then filed an amended habeas petition on January 5, 2021. This petition raised a litany of constitutional objections to his conviction and detention—most of which overlapped with his original peti- tion. The state moved to dismiss the habeas petition as untimely. It argued that the operative judgment for the statute of limitations USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 9 of 22

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is Cassidy’s original judgment from 2012, not his amended judg- ment from 2017. And it contended that the amended judgment was a nunc pro tunc order that relates back to the date of the original judgment. Cassidy responded that the amended judgment could not be a nunc pro tunc order because the state court did not so des- ignate it and that this kind of order is permitted only for correcting mistakes. He also argued that that his amended judgment reset the start of the federal statute of limitations. The magistrate judge recommended denying the state’s mo- tion. She concluded that “a judgment consists of a conviction and a sentence and even when an amended judgment alters only the sentence and not the underlying conviction, the amended judg- ment is a new judgment which restarts the AEDPA clock.” She did not address the nunc pro tunc issue. The district court dismissed the petition as untimely. It rea- soned that the state trial court never vacated Cassidy’s original sen- tences on counts one or two, nor did it hold a resentencing hearing or otherwise alter the state’s authority to confine Cassidy. The dis- trict court concluded that the state trial court “made clear” that the amended judgment was nunc pro tunc and that orders so designated are not new judgments. It later issued a two-question certificate of appealability: “(1) whether the state court’s order dated October 10, 2017, was a nunc pro tunc order under state law; and (2) whether the state court’s vacating of one count of a multi-count judgment created a new judgment under 2244(d) and 2254, thereby restarting the 1 year federal clock.” We later consolidated Cassidy’s appeal USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 10 of 22

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with Batson’s appeal to address the timeliness issues raised by the amended judgments. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW We review de novo a petition’s dismissal as untimely under section 2244(d). Morris v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 991 F.3d 1351, 1353 (11th Cir. 2021). III. DISCUSSION Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the timeliness of a state prisoner’s federal petition is governed by the following statute of limitations: “A 1-year period of limitation shall apply to an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). For both Batson and Cassidy, as state prisoners, that limitation period runs from “the date on which the judgment be- came final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.” Id. § 2244(d)(1)(A). These appeals turn on whether the state courts designated the prisoners’ amended judgments and sentences as nunc pro tunc. When a state court issues an amended judgment or sentence nunc pro tunc, our precedent requires us to accept that designation and refrain from evaluating whether it was proper under state law. See Osbourne, 968 F.3d at 1266–67, 1266 n.4. In Osbourne, we held that an amended sentence that a state court issued nunc pro tunc did not constitute a new judgment because it related back to the date of the original judgment. Id. at 1266–67. We did so without evaluating the validity of the nunc pro tunc designation under Florida law USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 11 of 22

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because that matter was “best left to the province of the state court.” Id. at 1266 n.4. Although Osbourne requires us to defer to a state court’s des- ignation of an amended judgment or sentence as nunc pro tunc, id. at 1266–67, 1266 n.4, the state court must have, in fact, classified the order as nunc pro tunc for this deference to apply, see id. at 1266 (explaining that the date of the original judgment controlled “[i]n light of the trial court’s nunc pro tunc designation when issuing Os- bourne’s amended sentence” (emphasis added)). Because the state court unambiguously issued Batson’s amended sentences nunc pro tunc, her petition is untimely. But because the state court did not enter Cassidy’s amended judgment nunc pro tunc, his petition is timely. We divide our discussion into two parts. First, we explain why Batson’s amended judgment and sentences did not restart the statute of limitations. Second, we explain why Cassidy’s amended judgment restarted the statute of limitations. A. Batson’s Amended Judgment and Sentences Did Not Reset the Statute of Limitations. Resolution of the timeliness issue in Batson’s appeal is straightforward under Osbourne. The state court checked the nunc pro tunc box on Batson’s amended sentences but not on her amended judgment. Of those two documents, the amended sen- tences provided the authority to confine Batson when she filed her federal petition. Osbourne directs us to defer to the state court’s USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 12 of 22

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designation of them as nunc pro tunc. So Batson’s amended sen- tences did not restart the federal statute of limitations. As we held in Patterson v. Secretary, Florida Department of Cor- rections, “the only judgment that counts for purposes of sec- tion 2244 is the judgment ‘pursuant to’ which the prisoner is ‘in custody.’” 849 F.3d 1321, 1326 (11th Cir. 2017) (en banc) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2254); accord Ferreira v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 494 F.3d 1286, 1293 (11th Cir. 2007) (“[T]he writ and AEDPA, including its limitations provisions, are specifically focused on the judgment which holds the petitioner in confinement.”). And the content of the state orders makes clear that the amended sentences—not the amended judgment—are what confined Batson when she filed her federal petition. The amended sentencing forms state that “[t]he Defendant is hereby committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections.” The amended judgment, in contrast, removed a vacated count from the list of Batson’s convictions without men- tioning or affecting her custody. The amended sentences’ nunc pro tunc designation relates back to Batson’s original judgment, so the statute of limitations did not reset. Osbourne requires us to defer to the state court’s designation of Batson’s amended sentences as nunc pro tunc. As discussed ear- lier, Osbourne held that an amended sentence marked nunc pro tunc did not constitute a new judgment. 968 F.3d at 1267. We stated that “the determining factor as to whether the state court judgment is a ‘new judgment’ for purposes of § 2244(b) turns on the nunc pro tunc designation.” Id. at 1266 (emphasis added). Because the nunc USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 13 of 22

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pro tunc designation on Batson’s amended sentences came from the state court, we must give it the dispositive weight that Osbourne did. That the prisoner in Osbourne did not contest the validity of the state court’s nunc pro tunc designation does not change that de- cision’s binding effect. To be sure, Osbourne refrained from “opin[ing] as to whether the imposition of the amended sentence in his case was the proper or correct use of a nunc pro tunc desig- nation under Florida law.” Id. at 1266 n.4. But respect for state courts’ primacy in interpreting state law—not the prisoner’s forfei- ture of the validity argument—compelled that restraint. See id. (cit- ing Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 731 (1991)). Osbourne de- ferred to the state court’s nunc pro tunc classification because we recognized that “the propriety of labeling a Florida judgment ‘nunc pro tunc’ is a matter of state law.” Id. Forfeiture did not change that this matter is “best left to the province of the state court.” Id. If Batson wanted to contest the validity of the state court’s nunc pro tunc designation, she should have done so during her state appeal. See id. (noting that “Osbourne did not challenge the impo- sition of the amended sentence nunc pro tunc in state court, despite having the opportunity to do so”). We cannot second-guess the state court’s nunc pro tunc designation, so the amended sentences that confine Batson nunc pro tunc to the date of her original judg- ment did not restart the federal statute of limitations. USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 14 of 22

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B. Cassidy’s Amended Judgment Reset the Statute of Limitations. Resolution of the timeliness issue in Cassidy’s appeal is more complicated than Batson’s appeal. Because the state court did not issue Cassidy’s amended judgment—which included his second amended sentence forms—nunc pro tunc, Osbourne does not limit the scope of our review as to whether the amended judgment re- started the federal statute of limitations. Cassidy’s amended judg- ment constitutes a new judgment that restarted the federal statute of limitations under section 2244(d)(1)(A). The state court in Cassidy’s case did not issue his amended judgment nunc pro tunc. The absence of the phrase “nunc pro tunc” from the amended judgment is significant because the state court previously included that language when it made a clerical correc- tion to Cassidy’s sentence. Its 2014 order granting Cassidy’s motion to clarify his sentence stated as follows: “DONE AND ORDERED in chambers, Nunc Pro Tunc, this 4th day of April, 2014.” This wording establishes that the state court knew how to designate an order nunc pro tunc—something that it did not do when it later is- sued Cassidy’s amended judgment and second amended sentence. And it makes the district court’s later conclusion that the state court intended to issue the amended judgment nunc pro tunc solely because it left the date of the original judgment on the amended sentencing forms untenable. Because the state court did not designate Cassidy’s amended judgment as nunc pro tunc, we are not bound to defer to the district court’s classification of it as nunc pro tunc. The district court was the USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 15 of 22

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first court to classify Cassidy’s amended judgment as a nunc pro tunc order. And our review of the district court’s—instead of the state court’s—understanding of whether an order was issued nunc pro tunc does not threaten the principles of comity that Osbourne sought to preserve. See id. Our decision in Ferreira v. Secretary, Department of Corrections stated that the federal statute of limitations “focuse[s] on the judg- ment which holds the petitioner in confinement.” 494 F.3d at 1293. We explained that there is only one judgment that confines a pris- oner at any given time, and that judgment is made up of both the sentence and the conviction. Id. at 1292–93. So the “statute of lim- itations begins to run from the date both the conviction and the sentence the petitioner is serving at the time he files his application become final because judgment is based on both the conviction and the sentence.” Id. at 1293. The Supreme Court also made clear in Magwood v. Patterson that courts must focus on the judgment that confines a prisoner when he files his federal petition. 561 U.S. 320, 332–33 (2010). That decision involved a state prisoner whose petition was conditionally granted by the district court with instructions that he be released or resentenced. Id. at 326. After a resentencing hearing, he was sen- tenced to death. Id. He filed a second petition, but the state argued that this petition was barred under section 2244(b). Id. at 331. Fo- cusing on the text, Magwood stressed that “[a] § 2254 petitioner is applying for something: His petition ‘seeks invalidation (in whole or in part) of the judgment authorizing the prisoner’s confinement.’” USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 16 of 22

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Id. at 332 (quoting Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74, 83 (2005)). After reasoning that “the existence of a new judgment is dispositive,” the Court held that the prisoner’s second petition was not barred be- cause he had been resentenced and given a new, intervening judg- ment between his two petitions. Id. at 338–39. But Magwood left unresolved whether a prisoner can challenge “not only his result- ing, new sentence, but also his original, undisturbed conviction.” Id. at 342. In Insignares v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, we addressed the question that Magwood left open: whether it mat- tered that a prisoner contested a conviction that did not change be- cause of the amended judgment. 755 F.3d 1273, 1280 (11th Cir. 2014). The prisoner in Insignares was sentenced to 27 years in prison based on a mandatory-minimum sentence of 20 years for at- tempted murder and a five-year suspended sentence for discharg- ing a firearm. Id. at 1276–77. He filed a federal petition, but it was dismissed as untimely. Id. at 1277. The state court later reduced his mandatory minimum from 20 years to 10 years but left his 27-year sentence for attempted murder intact. Id. The prisoner filed a new federal petition and argued that it was not second or successive be- cause the reduction of his mandatory-minimum sentence resulted in a new judgment. Id. We held that “when a habeas petition is the first to challenge a new judgment, it is not ‘second or successive,’ regardless of whether its claims challenge the sentence or the un- derlying conviction.” Id. at 1281. The “basic proposition” that “there is only one judgment, and it is comprised of both the sen- tence and the conviction” preordained Insignares’s result. Id. We USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 17 of 22

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also confirmed that Ferreira remained good law after Magwood be- cause “resentencing results in a new judgment that restarts the stat- ute of limitations.” Id. We later clarified that not every alteration to a sentence or conviction constitutes a new judgment. In Patterson, we held that an order that excused a prisoner from the chemical castration pun- ishment outlined in his original sentence did not constitute a new judgment. 849 F.3d at 1326. This conclusion meant that his habeas petition was barred as “second or successive.” Id. at 1328. Based on the text of section 2254, we explained that “the only judgment that counts for purposes of section 2244 is the judgment ‘pursuant to’ which the prisoner is ‘in custody.’” Id. at 1326 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2254). The order prohibiting castration did not amend the pris- oner’s judgment of confinement; it stated only that he “shall not have to undergo chemical castration.” Id. (alteration adopted) (in- ternal quotation marks omitted). Patterson’s original “commit- ment ha[d] never been vacated or replaced.” Id. at 1325. We also explained that “Insignares had an intervening ‘judgment authoriz- ing [his] confinement,’ but Patterson does not.” Id. at 1326 (quoting Insignares, 755 F.3d at 1279). To be sure, Osbourne made clear that “not every action that alters a sentence necessarily constitutes a new judgment for pur- poses of § 2244.” 968 F.3d at 1265. No new judgment existed there because we treated the prisoner’s amended sentence as relating back to the date of his original judgment and sentence. Id. at 1266. This decision was based on the state court issuing its changes to the USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 18 of 22

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original sentence nunc pro tunc. See id. at 1266–67, 1266 n.4. The lack of an “intervening new judgment” again proved dispositive. Id. at 1267. Based on these precedents, Cassidy’s amended judgment is a new judgment under section 2244(d) for two reasons. First, Cas- sidy’s appeal is distinguishable from Patterson because the state court vacated portions of Cassidy’s original judgment and entered an amended judgment. Even though the unaffected counts still im- posed the same prison term, the amended judgment replaced the original judgment. As Magwood explained, “the existence of a new judgment is dispositive.” 561 U.S. at 338. Second, the most recent judgment controls the running of the limitations period. As we ex- plained in Insignares, “there is only one judgment” that confines a prisoner. 755 F.3d at 1281. In the light of Ferreira’s explanation that the “statute of limitations begins to run from the date both the con- viction and the sentence the petitioner is serving at the time he files his application become final,” 494 F.3d at 1293, Cassidy’s amended judgment was “the judgment” that he was “in custody pursuant to” when he filed his federal petition, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). Because the vacated count no longer has any legal effect, it would be a strange outcome to hold that the original judgment that included that now-defunct count supersedes the amended judgment that in- cludes only the remaining valid counts. After all, “the judgment to which AEDPA refers is the underlying conviction and most recent sentence that authorizes the petitioner’s current detention.” Fer- reira, 494 F.3d at 1292 (emphasis added). USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 19 of 22

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The Secretary contends that because Cassidy’s amended judgment “left the sentences for [the remaining counts] unaf- fected,” it “should not be considered to have reset the AEDPA lim- itations period.” But we have rejected this approach as inconsistent with the statutory text. See Insignares, 755 F.3d at 1281 (explaining that in Ferreira, “we saw no reason to differentiate between a claim challenging a conviction and one challenging the sentence”). What matters is whether the state court vacated at least part of the origi- nal judgment and entered an amended judgment that confines the prisoner going forward. What does not matter is whether certain convictions in the amended judgment never changed. IV. CONCLUSION We AFFIRM the order dismissing Batson’s petition. We VACATE the order dismissing Cassidy’s petition and REMAND for further proceedings. USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 20 of 22

21-14257 HULL, J., Concurring 1

HULL, Circuit Judge, specially concurring: I concur in full in the Court’s opinion except for Part III.B regarding Cassidy’s appeal. I concur only in the judgment for Part III.B for several reasons. First, in my view, the clear intent of the state court was to enter Cassidy’s final amended judgment and sentence nunc pro tunc because in two places the state court dated the final amended judg- ment and sentence as “DONE AND ORDERED” on August 8, 2012, the date of his original sentencing. The Court’s opinion ba- ses its ruling on the absence of the words nunc pro tunc. I concur in the judgment because I can appreciate the Court’s reliance on that bright-line rule and reluctance to divine the intent of the state court on this matter. See Osbourne v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 968 F.3d 1261, 1266–67, 1266 n.4 (11th Cir. 2020). Second, I see a principled basis for possibly distinguishing Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 320 (2010), and Insignares v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, 755 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2014), but here again I respect the Court’s disinclination to do so. Here is why I view those decisions as arguably different from this case. The death-sentenced petitioner in Magwood received a full resentencing hearing after the district court conditionally granted the writ of ha- beas corpus as to the death sentence and mandated that the peti- tioner either be released or resentenced. 561 U.S. at 323, 326. After a new sentencing hearing, the district court resentenced the peti- tioner to death. Id. Magwood involved a truly new sentence and USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 21 of 22

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thus a truly new judgment as the result of a sentencing hearing and deliberation. Similarly, Insignares involved a truly new prison sentence and judgment entered after the state court reduced the petitioner’s mandatory-minimum sentence from 20 years to 10 years for his at- tempted murder conviction, which he sought to challenge in his subsequent federal habeas petition. 755 F.3d at 1276–77. In contrast here, Cassidy is serving the same undisturbed sentences originally imposed in 2012 on his same undisturbed con- victions on counts one and two. The convictions and sentences on counts one and two were never vacated and remain unchanged. Practically speaking, what has occurred is, in effect, merely an ad- ministrative or clerical restatement of the same original convic- tions and original sentences imposed in 2012. The prison sentences are the same in the amended judgment and not new sentences in a new judgment. Yet Cassidy may now file an otherwise untimely § 2254 petition challenging undisturbed convictions and sentences over a decade later, well beyond the one-year federal limitations pe- riod. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). Although § 2244(d)(1)’s purpose is to ensure finality of state and federal judgments, see Duncan v. Walker, 533 U.S. 167, 178 (2001), this result does just the opposite. Finally, because I view Insignares as potentially distinguisha- ble, I am more inclined to follow the approach of the Seventh Cir- cuit in Turner v. Brown, which rejected a habeas petitioner’s argu- ment that his resentencing on one count of a multi-count convic- tion “reset the clock for calculating [the] statute of limitations” USCA11 Case: 21-14257 Document: 80-4 Date Filed: 10/28/2024 Page: 22 of 22

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because “the relief he was granted . . . was limited to his robbery conviction, whereas his habeas petition challenges his conviction and life sentence for murder,” which had not changed. 845 F.3d 294, 297 (7th Cir. 2017) (emphasis added); see also Romansky v. Superin- tendent Greene SCI, 933 F.3d 293, 300–01 (3d Cir. 2019) (holding that a petitioner’s § 2254 petition was untimely because his “resentenc- ing did not impose a new judgment as to the undisturbed counts of conviction” which he sought to challenge). Nevertheless, I rec- ognize we do not write on a clean slate, and thus I concur in the judgment as to Part III.B.