Ajanaku Murdock v. FNU Horne ( 2021 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 20-7417
AJANAKU E. MURDOCK,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
FNU WILLIAMS, Disciplinary Hearing Officer; FNU HORNE, Assistant Unit
Manager; DISCIPLINARY APPELLATE COMMITTEE; FNU MITCHELL,
Regional Director; FACILITY CLASSIFICATION COMMITTEE,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at
Charlotte. Martin K. Reidinger, Chief District Judge. (3:19-cv-00039-MR)
Submitted: February 18, 2021 Decided: February 23, 2021
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.
Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Ajanaku E. Murdock, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Ajanaku E. Murdock, a North Carolina inmate, seeks to appeal the district court’s
order dismissing without prejudice his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint. An inmate’s notice of
appeal is considered filed as of the date it was delivered to prison officials for mailing to
the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988). Here, the
record does not conclusively establish when Murdock gave the notice of appeal to prison
officials for mailing. The notice of appeal contains an unsworn and unnotarized statement
that Murdock delivered the notice of appeal to prison officials for mailing within the appeal
period, but the postage stamp on the envelope that contained the notice of appeal, along
with a handwritten note on the envelope, suggest that prison officials may have received
the notice after the expiration of the appeal period. We therefore remand for the limited
purpose of allowing the district court to determine the date on which Murdock filed the
notice of appeal under Rule 4(c)(1) and Houston. The record, as supplemented, will then
be returned to this court for further consideration.
REMANDED
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