State v. Shannon, 293 Neb. 303

Scott Shannon was convicted in 2010 of two counts of attempted robbery and sentenced to concurrent 15–25 year terms; the Nebraska Court of Appeals issued its mandate on his direct appeal on September 20, 2011.
Nebraska law (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-3001(4)) imposes a one-year limitation to file a verified postconviction motion, measured from specified triggering events, including when a conviction becomes final and when a state-created impediment preventing filing is removed.
Shannon filed a postconviction petition on October 19, 2012, with a motion for leave to file out of time, asserting the petition was timely under § 29-3001(4)(c) because a prison lockdown (Aug 2–Sept 9, 2012) fully cut off access to the institutional law library.
At the district-court hearing Shannon testified he lacked law-library access only between Aug 2 and Sept 9, 2012; no allegation he lacked access earlier in the one-year period after the mandate.
The district court dismissed Shannon’s petition as untimely; Shannon appealed, arguing the lockdown was a state-created impediment that prevented filing and thus tolled the limitations period.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a temporary prison lockdown that restricted law-library access constitutes a § 29-3001(4)(c) state-created impediment that prevented filing a postconviction motion	Shannon: Lockdown (Aug 2–Sept 9, 2012) eliminated access and thus prevented filing within the one-year period	State: Lockdown was a short, temporary restriction that did not actually prevent filing during the one-year window	Court: The lockdown did not, as a matter of law, prevent filing; § 29-3001(4)(c) does not apply and the petition was untimely

State v. Huggins, 291 Neb. 443 (rejecting argument that custody in another jurisdiction without Nebraska law-library access alone triggers § 29-3001(4)(c))
Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (prisoners have a constitutional right to adequate law libraries or assistance to access courts)
Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343 (to prove an access-to-courts violation an inmate must show an actual injury to pursuit of nonfrivolous claim)
Kotrous v. Zerbe, 287 Neb. 1033 (statutory interpretation principles applied in postconviction context)
Jones v. Jones, 284 Neb. 361 (access-to-courts principles in Nebraska)
Dutton-Lainson Co. v. Continental Ins. Co., 271 Neb. 810 (statutory interpretation authority)