Leonardo Roque v. Erik Hooks ( 2023 )

USCA4 Appeal: 22-6054 Doc: 16 Filed: 05/24/2022 Pg: 1 of 2
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 22-6054
LEONARDO ROQUE,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
ERIK A. HOOKS, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at
Charlotte. Martin K. Reidinger, Chief District Judge. (3:18-cv-00459-MR)
Submitted: May 19, 2022 Decided: May 24, 2022
Before MOTZ and HARRIS, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Leonardo Roque, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 22-6054 Doc: 16 Filed: 05/24/2022 Pg: 2 of 2
PER CURIAM:
Leonardo Roque seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing his 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254 petition as barred by the statute of limitations. Roque filed his notice of appeal on
December 28, 2021. * In his notice, Roque stated that he did not receive notice of the district
court’s order until December 3, after the 30-day appeal period expired, was misadvised by
the district court on the steps he needed to take to perfect his appeal, and that he was having
difficulty accessing the prison notary because of the Christmas holiday. Accordingly, we
remand this case for the limited purpose of allowing the district court to determine whether
Roque demonstrated good cause or excusable neglect and if the appeal period should be
reopened or extended. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5), (6). The record, as supplemented, will
then be returned to this court for further consideration.
REMANDED
*
For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date appearing on the notice of
appeal is the earliest date Roque could have delivered the notice to prison officials for
mailing to the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988).
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