In Foley v. Biter, 12-17724, the Ninth Circuit Tuesday reversed the EDCA court's order denying a motion to reopen the judgment to file a late notice of appeal. Foley had filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in 2001; the court denied the petition in 2004. But Foley's counsel never told him that the petition had been denied so he didn't file a notice of appeal until years later. The attorney candidly admitted it was his screw up; he somehow forgot he represented Foley. The Ninth Circuit found this attorney abandonment excused Foley's failure to timely appeal. Congrats to Assistant Federal Defender Carolyn Wiggin for the appellate win.
In an unrelated matter, the ACLU has filed a suit in Fresno County Superior Court alleging that the Fresno County Public Defender's Office is woefully underfunded and carries far too many cases to provide adequate representation, violating the Sixth Amendment guarantee of effective assistance of counsel and other constitutional requirements. Fresno Bee, 7/15/15. The lawsuit is here.