Does Respondent have the authority to determine whether a Petitioner's fifth appeal has been properly filed?

Petitioner filed his fifth petition on December 29, 201671 days after the denial of his fourth petition. Respondent argues that the 71-day delay was unreasonable and that the fifth petition was therefore not "properly filed" for statutory tolling purposes. ECF No. 11 at 6. In California, "a state prisoner may seek review of an adverse lower court decision by filing an original petition (rather than a notice of appeal) in the higher court, and that petition is timely if filed within a 'reasonable time.'" Evans v. Chavis, 546 U.S. 189, 192-93 (2006). For petitions filed in a "reasonable time," a petitioner may count as "pending" the "days between (1) the time the lower state court reached an adverse decision, and (2) the day he filed a petition in the higher state court." Id. at 193. This court "must itself examine the delay in each case and determine what the state courts would have held in respect to timeliness." Id. at 198.