Rivera v. State of Virginia ( 1999 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 98-7450
JOSE ANTONIO RIVERA,
Petitioner - Appellant,
versus
STATE OF VIRGINIA,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern Dis-
trict of Virginia, at Richmond. Robert E. Payne, District Judge.
(CA-98-247)
Submitted: March 25, 1999 Decided: March 30, 1999
Before WILKINS and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Jose Antonio Rivera, Appellant Pro Se. Eugene Paul Murphy, OFFICE
OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Jose Antonio Rivera filed an untimely notice of appeal. We
dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The time periods for
filing notices of appeal are governed by Fed. R. App. P. 4. These
periods are "mandatory and jurisdictional." See Browder v.
Director, Dep't of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264 (1978) (quoting
United States v. Robinson, 361 U.S. 220, 229 (1960)). Parties to
civil actions have thirty days within which to file in the district
court notices of appeal from judgments or final orders. Fed. R.
App. P. 4(a)(1). The only exceptions to the appeal period are when
the district court extends the time to appeal under Fed. R. App. P.
4(a)(5) or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6).
The district court entered its order on July 21, 1998;
Rivera's notice of appeal was filed on September 4, 1998,* which is
beyond the thirty-day appeal period. Rivera's failure to file a
timely notice of appeal or obtain an extension or a reopening of
the appeal period leaves this court without jurisdiction to con-
sider the merits of his appeal. We therefore deny a certificate of
appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argu-
ment because the facts and legal contentions are adequately pre-
*
For the purposes of this appeal we assume that the date
Rivera wrote on the notice of appeal is the earliest date it would
have been submitted to prison authorities. See Houston v. Lack,
487 U.S. 266 (1988).
2
sented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid
the decisional process.
DISMISSED
3