Tashon Earl Hurell v. Brian Kendall, Warden

Whether a federal appellate court may refuse merits review of substantial constitutional claims as untimely where the record reflects prolonged, State-caused denial of all meaningful law-library and mail access, in tension with Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (1977), and Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S. 631 (2010). Whether the State’s knowing use of fabricated evidence—including an affidavit explicitly contradicted by official FBI findings and unsupported forensic claims—violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments even where the lower court deems the error harmless. Whether trial counsel provided ineffective assistance under the Sixth Amendment by failing to challenge false evidence, present material exculpatory and alibi testimony, and request a Franks hearing, thereby depriving petitioner of a meaningful defense. Whether persistent, documented State-imposed barriers preventing access to legal materials and to the courts constitute a “state- created impediment” and “extraordinary circumstance” sufficient to require tolling or gateway review under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) and Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995).