Whether the federal habeas corpus statute of limitations begins to run from the finality of a deferred adjudication order or the finality of the judgment of conviction and sentence

QUESTION PRESENTED Most criminal defendants plead guilty. Many who do so in Texas receive deferred adjudication probation. The court enters an order deferring a finding of guilt and placing the defendant on probation. If he successfully completes the probation, he avoids a conviction, sentence, and judgment; and the case is dismissed. The deferred adjudication order is not a judgment of conviction and sentence. When a person who has been on deferred adjudication files a federal habeas corpus petition challenging his guilty plea, the Fifth Circuit calculates the AEDPA statute of limitations from the finality of the deferred adjudication order, not from the finality of the judgment after adjudication of guilt and sentencing. But most defendants have no reason to challenge a guilty plea until after the adjudication of guilt, and that usually occurs long after the deferred adjudication order becomes final. Thus, most defendants never receive federal review of the constitutionality of their guilty pleas. The Fifth Circuit rule is out of line with how this Court and most federal courts define “judgment” in the context of the AEDPA statute of limitations. Petitioner asks this Court to decide the following issue: Whether the Court should apply the rule in Burton v. Stewart, 549 U.S. 147 (2007)—that a final judgment in a criminal case means the sentence—and hold that the federal habeas li QUESTION PRESENTED—Continued corpus statute of limitations does not begin to run until a judgment of conviction and sentence becomes final, not when a prior order deferring adjudication of guilt becomes final. iii RELATED CASES e State of Texas v. Riddle, No. 17477, 253rd District Court of Texas. Order of Deferred Adjudication entered February 23, 2016. e State of Texas v. Riddle, No. 17477, 253rd District Court of Texas. Judgment Adjudicating Guilt entered August 22, 2016. e Riddle v. State of Texas, No. 01-16-00657-CR, Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas. Opinion entered August 23, 2018. e Riddle v. State of Texas, No. PD-1007-18, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order Refusing Discretionary Review entered December 5, 2018. e =6Ex parte Riddle, No. WR-91,158-01, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order Denying Habeas Corpus Relief entered September 7, 2022. e =6Ex parte Riddle, No. WR-91,158-01, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order Denying Suggestion for Reconsideration entered September 26, 2022. e §6Riddle v. Texas, No. 22-527, United States Supreme Court. Order Denying Certiorari entered April 3, 2023. e Riddle v. Lumpkin, No. 3:22-CV-330, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division. Judgment entered June 26, 2023. e Riddle v. Lumpkin, No. 23-40437, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Order Denying Certificate of Appealability entered December 4, 2023.