Is a state habeas petition valid for purposes of the federal statute of limitations?

Here, petitioner's first state habeas petition which he filed with the San Joaquin County Superior Court on February 2, 2004, does not operate to toll the federal statute of limitations because it was filed before that limitations period began to run. See Waldrip v. Hall, 548 F.3d 729, 735 (9th Cir. 2008) (noting that although the filing of a state habeas petition "would otherwise have tolled the running of the federal limitations period, since it was denied before the period had started to run, it had no effect on the timeliness of the ultimate federal filing.").