Washington v. Ryan , 789 F.3d 1041 ( 2015 )


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  •                FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    THEODORE WASHINGTON,                   Nos. 05-99009
    Petitioner-Appellant,           07-15536
    v.                        D.C. No.
    CV-95-02460-
    CHARLES L. RYAN,                            JAT
    Respondent-Appellee.
    OPINION
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the District of Arizona
    James A. Teilborg, Senior District Judge, Presiding
    Argued July 11, 2013
    Submitted September 8, 2014
    Seattle, Washington
    Filed June 17, 2015
    Before: Alex Kozinski, Ronald M. Gould
    and N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges.
    Opinion by Judge Gould
    2                     WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    SUMMARY*
    Habeas Corpus/Death Penalty
    The panel dismissed as untimely Arizona death row
    inmate Theodore Washington’s appeal from the district
    court’s judgment denying his habeas corpus petition (appeal
    number 05-99009), and affirmed the district court’s denial of
    Washington’s motion to vacate the judgment under Fed. R.
    Civ. P. 60(b) (appeal number 07-15536).
    The panel dismissed appeal number 05-99009 because
    Washington’s notice of appeal was not timely filed under
    Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), a mandatory and jurisdictional
    time limit. The panel held that Washington’s motion for a
    certificate of appealability cannot be construed as a motion
    for an extension of time under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A)(i).
    In appeal number 07-15537, the panel affirmed the denial
    of Washington’s Rule 60(b) motion because the district court
    did not abuse its discretion in holding that a Rule 60(b)
    motion was not available to extend the time allowed to file a
    notice of appeal on the facts here. Rejecting Washington’s
    contention that his situation satisfies Rule 60(b)(1)’s
    authorization for relief from judgment in a case of “excusable
    neglect,” the panel held that where a party files a Rule 60(b)
    motion solely to render a notice of appeal timely, and the
    motion seeks relief on grounds identical to those offered by
    Rule 4(a), Rule 60(b) motions may not be used to escape the
    time limits for appeal. The panel also held that the district
    *
    This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
    been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                       3
    court did not err in finding that Washington cannot establish
    “extraordinary circumstances” justifying relief from judgment
    under Rule 60(b)(6), where Washington’s attorney’s
    negligence leading to the late filing of the appeal did not
    amount to attorney abandonment.
    COUNSEL
    Gilbert H. Levy (argued), Law Offices of Gilbert H. Levy,
    Seattle, Washington, for Petitioner-Appellant.
    Jeffrey A. Zick, Assistant Attorney General, Phoenix,
    Arizona; Laura Chiasson (argued) and Nicholas Klingerman,
    Assistant Attorneys General, Office of the Arizona Attorney
    General, Tucson, Arizona, for Respondent-Appellee.
    4                  WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    OPINION
    GOULD, Circuit Judge:
    Theodore Washington, an Arizona death row inmate,
    appeals the district court’s judgment denying his petition for
    a writ of habeas corpus under 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
     (appeal
    number 05-99009) as well as the district court’s order
    denying Washington’s motion to vacate the judgment under
    Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) (appeal number 07-
    15536). We dismiss appeal number 05-99009 because
    Washington’s notice of appeal was not timely filed under
    Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A), a mandatory
    and jurisdictional time limit. We affirm the denial of
    Washington’s Rule 60(b) motion in appeal number 07-15536
    because the district court did not abuse its discretion in
    determining that under the circumstances here, a Rule 60(b)
    motion is not available for the purpose of extending the time
    allowed to file an appeal.
    Because his attorney did not properly calculate a filing
    deadline, Theodore Washington has lost his chance for
    appellate review of his habeas petition. In his appeal, he
    would have raised issues similar to those raised by one of his
    co-defendants, on which another panel of our court ordered
    a new penalty-phase trial. See Robinson v. Schriro, 
    595 F.3d 1086
    , 1113 (9th Cir. 2010). Because we do not have
    jurisdiction to hear Washington’s appeal in appeal number
    05-99009, and because the district court did not abuse its
    discretion in denying Washington’s Rule 60(b) motion in
    appeal number 07-15536, we do not reach the question of
    whether the district court erred in denying Washington’s
    habeas petition.
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                         5
    I
    In 1987, Washington and two co-defendants, Fred
    Robinson and Jimmy Lee Mathers, traveled together from
    California to Arizona. Two of them entered a home, robbed
    it, and shot the two inhabitants, killing one and seriously
    wounding the other. The three men were convicted of first
    degree murder, attempted first degree murder, aggravated
    assault, residential burglary, and robbery while armed with a
    deadly weapon. Following an aggravation–mitigation
    hearing, the trial judge sentenced all three to death. At trial,
    the prosecution argued that Mathers and Washington entered
    the home, while Robinson remained outside. At sentencing,
    the trial court stated that Mathers was the triggerman.
    The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the convictions of
    Robinson and Washington on direct appeal in State v.
    Robinson, 
    796 P.2d 853
     (Ariz. 1990). That opinion recounts
    that both victims were shot by a firearm belonging to
    Robinson, and cites testimony circumstantially identifying
    Washington as threatening the inhabitants with a handgun and
    subsequently “ransack[ing]” the house. 
    Id.
     at 857–58. In a
    companion case, the Arizona Supreme Court reversed
    Mathers’s conviction. State v. Mathers, 
    796 P.2d 866
     (Ariz.
    1990). It held that there was not sufficient evidence to
    support the finding that Mathers was involved in the crime,
    and explicitly found that Robinson and Washington had
    entered the home. 
    Id. at 873
    .
    Robinson filed state and federal post-conviction relief
    petitions, and eventually won relief in the Ninth Circuit.
    Robinson, 
    595 F.3d at
    1090–91. Relying on the trial court’s
    factual premise that Washington and Mathers entered the
    home, 
    id.
     at 1091–94, we held that the state trial court’s
    6                  WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    application of the “cruel, heinous, and depraved” aggravating
    factor was arbitrary and capricious, and that Robinson
    received ineffective assistance of counsel at the sentencing
    phase of the joint trial, 
    id.
     at 1100–12. We granted his
    petition for a new penalty-phase trial. 
    Id. at 1113
    .
    The state trial court denied Washington’s initial post-
    conviction relief petition. He filed a petition for a writ of
    habeas corpus in the District of Arizona, which found that
    some of the claims he raised in the petition were procedurally
    barred and denied relief on the remainder. Washington filed
    a motion to amend the judgment, which the district court
    denied in an order filed June 8, 2005. Rule 4(a)’s 30-day
    deadline to file a notice of appeal from that judgment expired
    on Friday, July 8.
    On Monday, July 11th, one business day after the 30-day
    deadline, Washington filed a notice of appeal along with a
    motion for a certificate of appealability (“COA”). The
    district court granted a COA for three of his claims:
    1) whether the trial court erred in denying Washington’s
    motion to sever his trial from those of his co-defendants,
    2) whether the “cruel, heinous, and depraved” sentencing
    factor had been arbitrarily and capriciously applied, and
    3) whether Washington received constitutionally ineffective
    assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of the trial. In
    response to our order to show cause why the appeal should
    not be dismissed as untimely, Washington filed a motion in
    the district court to vacate the district court’s judgment under
    Rule 60(b), and we stayed the show-cause order until the
    resolution of the 60(b) motion.
    The district court denied Washington’s 60(b) motion, and
    Washington timely appealed that decision. We vacated the
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                              7
    district court’s order and issued a limited remand directing
    the district court to replace Washington’s counsel of record
    and to re-hear the 60(b) motion because the district court
    lacked jurisdiction to hear the motion without a remand order
    from the original untimely appeal. The district court re-heard
    and again denied Washington’s 60(b) motion, and
    Washington again timely appealed. We discharged our show-
    cause order with respect to timeliness, granted a certificate of
    appealability, and this appeal followed.
    We stayed proceedings in this case pending the Supreme
    Court’s resolution of two potentially relevant cases: Maples
    v. Thomas, 
    132 S. Ct. 912
     (2012), and Martinez v. Ryan,
    
    132 S. Ct. 1309
     (2012). After the opinions in those two
    decisions were issued, we requested and received
    supplemental briefing on their impact on Washington’s
    claims. Our court then issued its decision in Mackey v.
    Hoffman, 
    682 F.3d 1247
     (9th Cir. 2012), which relied on
    Maples to hold that attorney abandonment could constitute an
    extraordinary circumstance justifying post-judgment relief
    under Rule 60(b)(6). We heard argument1 and then requested
    and received supplemental briefing addressing a potential
    intra-circuit conflict between Mackey and In re Stein,
    
    197 F.3d 421
     (9th Cir. 2000).
    We issued a limited remand order for the district court to
    determine whether the late filing of the notice of appeal was
    attorney abandonment such that relief would be available
    under Mackey’s limited exception. The district court
    1
    This case was originally assigned to a panel of Judge Betty Fletcher,
    Judge Harry Pregerson, and Judge Sidney Thomas, which handled all pre-
    argument motions. After the death of Judge Betty Fletcher, the case was
    reassigned to the current panel.
    8                      WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    determined that the late filing was due to a miscalculation of
    the filing deadline by a legal secretary in the office of the
    Federal Public Defender. It held that this miscalculation was
    mere negligence, not the kind of abandonment necessary to
    sever the agency relationship between attorney and client and
    allow for relief under Mackey. The district court then
    returned the case to us.
    II
    Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A) requires
    parties in civil cases to file a notice of appeal within 30 days
    of the entry of judgment, a time limit that was codified in the
    habeas statutes at 
    28 U.S.C. § 2107
    (a). Because it is a
    statutory deadline, failure to meet it “deprive[s] the Court of
    Appeals of jurisdiction.” Bowles v. Russell, 
    551 U.S. 205
    ,
    213 (2007).2
    2
    We have previously commented on the repercussions of the
    jurisdictional nature of Rule 4(a)’s statutory deadlines. In United States
    ex rel. Haight v. Catholic Healthcare West, 
    602 F.3d 949
     (9th Cir. 2010),
    we faced a case where “our circuit precedent gave . . . 60 days to file a
    notice of appeal. Relying on [that precedent], Plaintiffs filed their notice
    of appeal 51 days after the entry of judgment. At that time, we would
    have deemed their appeal timely. But while this appeal was pending, the
    Supreme Court held that . . . plaintiffs in such cases have only 30 days to
    appeal.” 
    Id.
     at 952–53 (citing United States ex rel. Eisenstein v. City of
    New York, 
    556 U.S. 928
    , 936–37 (2009)). We dismissed the appeal for
    lack of jurisdiction, noting that, because the Supreme Court had
    “expressly refused to limit its decision to prospective application,”
    recognized that potential for “harsh consequences,” and denied the
    possibility of equitable relief, we were bound to apply its holding. 
    Id. at 953
    . However, we felt compelled to note that “[i]t is a serious
    understatement to call this result ‘inequitable.’” 
    Id.
     (quoting Bowles,
    
    551 U.S. at 214
    ).
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                                9
    Washington concedes that his notice of appeal was filed
    one day late, which generally would end the inquiry.
    However, Rule 4(a)(5)(A) permits the district court to
    “extend the time to file a notice of appeal if: (i) a party so
    moves no later than 30 days after the time prescribed by this
    Rule 4(a) expires; and (ii) . . . that party shows excusable
    neglect or good cause.” Washington contends that his motion
    for a COA should be construed as a motion for an extension
    of time under Rule 4(a)(5). Because the motion for a COA
    was filed less than 30 days after the expiration of the period
    for filing a notice of appeal in Rule 4(a)(1), it would meet
    Rule 4(a)(5)(A)(i)’s timing requirement if it were so
    construed.
    We decline to do so.3 We agree that, particularly in cases
    involving the death penalty or pro se litigants, “[a]ny
    submission signed by a party that may fairly be read as a
    request to the district court to exercise its discretionary
    powers to permit a late appeal should suffice.” Campos v.
    LeFevre, 
    825 F.2d 671
    , 676 (2d Cir. 1987). But even that low
    bar is not met here. Our precedent follows the general rule
    that an untimely notice of appeal may not be construed as a
    motion for an extension of time. Pettibone v. Cupp, 
    666 F.2d 333
    , 335 (9th Cir. 1981); see also Campbell v. White,
    
    721 F.2d 644
    , 646 & n.3 (8th Cir. 1983) (gathering extra-
    circuit cases for the same proposition). We see no logical
    reason to treat motions for a COA as an exception to this
    well-established rule, and no circuit case to date has done so.
    3
    Because we hold that Washington’s motion for a COA cannot be
    construed as a motion for an extension of time, we need not and do not
    reach the question of whether the miscalculation of the filing deadline was
    “excusable neglect or good cause” under Rule 4(a)(5)(A)(ii).
    10                  WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    But even if we were to consider such a possibility,
    Washington’s motion for a COA here did not indicate that it
    was intended to serve as a motion for an extension of time.
    See Bordallo v. Reyes, 
    763 F.2d 1098
    , 1101–02 (9th Cir.
    1985) (holding that “a court must construe whether a motion,
    however styled, is appropriate for the relief requested”). The
    motion for a COA does not mention timeliness and does not
    imply a need for additional time for any reason. Nor could it
    reasonably be so construed: when Washington’s motion for
    a COA was filed, Washington’s counsel believed that the
    notice of appeal was timely filed and did not think that there
    was need for an extension of time.
    Because Washington’s motion for a COA cannot be
    construed as a motion for an extension of time, his notice of
    appeal does not meet the mandatory and jurisdictional time
    limits in Rule 4(a), and we are without jurisdiction to
    consider his appeal of the district court’s denial of his petition
    for habeas corpus. We therefore dismiss appeal number 05-
    99009.
    III
    Washington’s 60(b) motion requested that the district
    court “vacate the judgment it entered on June 8, 2005
    [denying Washington’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus],
    and reenter that judgment nunc pro tunc as of June 9, 2005,”
    thereby making timely Washington’s notice of appeal.
    Washington articulates two grounds for such relief. First, he
    argues that his situation satisfies Rule 60(b)(1)’s
    authorization for relief from judgment in cases of “mistake,
    inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
    60(b)(1). Second, he argues that his untimely filing resulted
    from “extraordinary circumstances” that fall into Rule
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                        11
    60(b)(6)’s catch-all provision. See Gonzalez v. Crosby,
    
    545 U.S. 524
    , 535 (2005). We affirm the district court’s
    denial of Washington’s 60(b) motion. See Stein, 
    197 F.3d at 424
     (“We review the district court’s denial of [a Rule 60(b)
    motion] for abuse of discretion.”).
    A
    Washington argues in his Rule 60(b) motion that the
    circumstances here meet the requirements of Rule 60(b)(1).
    However, even if the situation is in fact a case of “excusable
    neglect,” that prong of Rule 60(b)(1) is not an avenue by
    which a party can extend the time periods allowed for filing
    a notice of appeal, so we must affirm the denial of
    Washington’s Rule 60(b) motion. See Stein, 
    197 F.3d at 424
    .
    Stein involved a group of creditors in a bankruptcy case
    who did not file a timely notice of appeal from a judgment of
    the district court in favor of the debtor. 
    Id. at 423
    . The
    creditors alleged that they had not been given notice of the
    entry of judgment until after the 30-day deadline for the filing
    of a notice of appeal had passed. 
    Id.
     We discussed the ways
    in which Rule 4 permits parties to extend the time for filing
    a notice of appeal, including Rule 4(a)(5)’s option to file a
    motion for extension of time within an additional 30-day
    period, and Rule 4(a)(6)’s “outer limit” which gives the
    district court the option to reopen the time to file a notice of
    appeal if a party did not receive notice of the judgment
    against it. 
    Id.
     at 424–25. We held that, “on the facts of this
    case relief was not available under Rule 60(b) because the
    exclusive remedies for a failure to file a timely notice of
    12                     WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    appeal due to a lack of notice of entry of the judgment or
    order were contained in Rule 4(a).” 
    Id. at 424
    .4
    We reach the same result here. Though Stein explicitly
    addressed only situations in which a lack of notice of
    judgment was the ground for the Rule 60(b) motion, the
    case’s logic and the language of Rule 4(a) and Rule 60(b)
    support the same conclusion that Stein reached. As we
    discussed above, Rule 4(a)(5)(A) permits the district court to
    “extend the time to file a notice of appeal if: (i) a party so
    moves no later than 30 days after the time prescribed by this
    Rule 4(a) expires; and (ii) . . . that party shows excusable
    neglect or good cause.” Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A). Rule 60
    also provides for relief from judgment for “excusable
    neglect,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(1), but permits such motions
    to be filed up to a year after entry of the judgment from which
    relief is sought, 
    id.
     R. 60(c)(1). As the Third Circuit has
    persuasively explained:
    Rule 4(a) is a specific procedural rule,
    governing appellate practice, based on a
    statutory declaration, 
    28 U.S.C. § 2107
    ,
    prescribing the time within which an appeal
    from a district court order must be taken.
    Rule 60(b) is a general procedural rule, of
    applicability to district courts, allowing for
    relief from judgments. It is a fundamental
    4
    This is the majority rule in our sister circuits. See 16A Charles Alan
    Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice &
    Procedure 3950.3 at nn.37–47 (4th ed. 2014) (citing cases for the
    proposition that the tactic of bringing a Rule 60(b) motion “for no purpose
    but to induce the district court to vacate and re-enter the underlying
    judgment and thereby re-start the time to appeal” is “clearly forbidden in
    all Circuits, save perhaps, the Sixth.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                       13
    principle of statutory construction that the
    specific language controls over general
    language. Under this principle, Rule 4(a), and
    not Rule 60(b), controls the time within which
    an appeal must be taken. Also, to allow a
    party to rely on Rule 60(b) as an alternative to
    the time constraints of Rule 4(a) would have
    the substantive effect of nullifying the
    provisions of Rule 4(a)(5). Competing
    statutes should not, if at all possible, be
    interpreted so that the provisions of one will
    abrogate the provisions of another.
    West v. Keve, 
    721 F.2d 91
    , 96 (3d Cir. 1983) (internal
    citations omitted); see also Dunn v. Cockrell, 
    302 F.3d 491
    ,
    491–93 (5th Cir. 2002) (per curiam) (holding that motions
    under Rule 60(b)(1) may not be used to evade the time limits
    of Rule 4(a) in a case with a procedural posture similar to
    Washington’s).
    If we permitted Washington to gain relief under Rule
    60(b)(1), it would render the escape hatch already included in
    Rule 4(a)(5) almost unnecessary, and would also evade the
    time limits in that rule, because excusable neglect could allow
    an exemption from the Rule 4(a) time limits up to a year after
    judgment, far beyond the 30 day extension of the time to
    appeal that Rule 4(a)(5) allows in cases of excusable neglect.
    We do not read the law to permit this, and conclude that
    where a party files a Rule 60(b) motion solely to render a
    notice of appeal timely, and the motion seeks relief on
    grounds identical to those offered by Rule 4(a), Rule 60(b)
    motions may not be used to escape the time limits for appeal.
    As discussed in Part II above, Washington did not file a
    motion that can be construed as a motion for extension of
    14                 WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    time under Rule 4(a)(5), and he does not allege that he did not
    receive notice of the judgment against him, so Rule 4(a)(6)
    does not apply to his situation. The district court did not
    abuse its discretion when it rejected Washington’s Rule
    60(b)(1) motion that had tried to avoid the consequences of
    an untimely notice of appeal.
    B
    Although a showing of excusable neglect under Rule
    60(b)(1) cannot be used to render a notice of appeal timely,
    we have not entirely foreclosed using Rule 60(b) for that
    purpose. We have held that 60(b)(6) can be used to remedy
    an untimely notice of appeal on a showing of “extraordinary
    circumstances.” See Mackey, 682 F.3d at 1251. However,
    we conclude that the district court did not err in finding that
    Washington cannot establish extraordinary circumstances
    here, so the district court did not abuse its discretion in
    denying Washington’s motion.
    In Mackey, we faced the problem of a habeas petitioner
    whose attorney filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in
    federal court under 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
     but stopped litigating
    the case because Mackey’s parents did not pay his legal fees.
    
    Id.
     at 1248–50. Because the attorney neither filed an appeal
    of the district court’s denial of the habeas petition nor alerted
    Mackey to the fact that judgment had been entered against
    him, Mackey forfeited his opportunity to appeal. 
    Id.
     A new
    attorney sought to revive this lost chance by filing a motion
    under Rule 60(b) to re-enter the denial of the habeas petition
    and restart the time allowed for an appeal under Rule 4(a).
    
    Id.
     The district court held that Stein deprived it of discretion
    to consider a Rule 60(b) motion filed only to remedy an
    untimely appeal. 
    Id. at 1250
    .
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                       15
    We reversed. 
    Id. at 1254
    . We noted that Stein’s holding
    was based on the “tessellated scheme” of Rule 4(a) and
    Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 77(d), regarding notice of
    judgment. 
    Id. at 1252
     (quoting Stein, 
    197 F.3d at 426
    ).
    Because Mackey’s appeal was untimely not for lack of notice,
    but because his counsel had failed to continue representing
    him in court—a scenario for which no rule parallel to Rule 77
    exists—we concluded that the Federal Rules were not so
    comprehensive as to leave no room for Rule 60(b)(6).
    We recognized that “[a] federal habeas petitioner—who
    as such does not have a Sixth Amendment right to counsel—
    is ordinarily bound by his attorney’s negligence.” Id. at 1253
    (quoting Towery v. Ryan, 
    673 F.3d 933
    , 941 (9th Cir. 2012)).
    However, we then reasoned from Maples, 
    132 S. Ct. at
    923–24 (holding that attorney abandonment constitutes an
    extraordinary circumstance that allows a federal court to
    disregard the state procedural bar to hearing a habeas
    petition), and Community Dental Services v. Tani, 
    282 F.3d 1164
    , 1169–71 (9th Cir. 2002) (holding that a defendant had
    shown extraordinary circumstances where his attorney
    disregarded his instructions and purposefully deceived him
    about the progress of the proceedings), that “when a federal
    habeas petitioner has been inexcusably and grossly neglected
    by his counsel in a manner amounting to attorney
    abandonment,” the petitioner may get relief through a motion
    filed under Rule 60(b)(6), Mackey, 682 F.3d at 1253.
    The Mackey panel remanded to the district court to
    determine whether such abandonment had occurred, and our
    panel did the same with Washington’s claims. On remand,
    the district court reviewed the facts—including that
    Washington’s attorney filed an untimely notice of appeal,
    waited until (what he incorrectly believed to be) the final day
    16                  WASHINGTON V. RYAN
    to file that notice of appeal, had logged 260.9 hours that
    month, relied on an assistant to calculate the filing deadline,
    and was uncertain about the filing requirements. D. Ct. Dkt.
    No. 167, at 4, Washington v. Ryan, No. CV-95-2460 (D. Ariz.
    2013). It relied on Towery, 673 F.3d at 938, to find that “the
    facts alleged here suggest mere negligence, not
    abandonment,” because none of the allegations were so
    serious as to constitute the kind of “inexcusable or gross
    neglect” found in Mackey and Maples. D. Ct. Dkt. No. 167,
    at 7–9.
    We cannot conclude that the district court erred in finding
    that Washington’s attorney did not abandon him. Unlike
    counsel in Maples and Mackey, Washington’s attorney
    worked diligently throughout the proceedings, and diligently
    attempted to remedy the error he made once the untimely
    filing was discovered. Further, the error, while serious in
    consequence, is exactly the kind of behavior that has been
    described as mere negligence in other situations, including
    death penalty cases. See, e.g., Lawrence v. Florida, 
    549 U.S. 327
    , 336–37 (2007) (“Attorney miscalculation is simply not
    sufficient to warrant equitable tolling, particularly in the post-
    conviction context where prisoners have no constitutional
    right to counsel.”).
    Mackey holds that relief can be warranted as an
    extraordinary circumstance under Rule 60(b)(6) when there
    has been attorney abandonment, but the district court here on
    limited remand found that there was no attorney
    abandonment, and we agree. Attorney negligence leading to
    late filing of an appeal is not the type of extraordinary
    circumstance that warrants relief under Rule 60(b)(6). Nor
    has Washington presented any other facts that would
    constitute “extraordinary circumstances” under 60(b)(6). We
    WASHINGTON V. RYAN                             17
    affirm the denial of Washington’s Rule 60(b) motion. We
    stress that our analysis applies only to Rule 60(b) motions
    filed for the sole purpose of vacating and reentering a
    judgment to remedy an untimely notice of appeal.
    IV
    We dismiss Washington’s appeal in case number 05-
    99009 because we do not have jurisdiction to entertain an
    untimely notice of appeal and because Washington’s motion
    for a COA cannot be construed as a motion for an extension
    of time. We affirm the denial of Washington’s 60(b) motion
    in case number 07-15536 because the district court did not
    abuse its discretion in holding that a 60(b) motion was not
    available to extend the time allowed to file a notice of appeal
    on the facts here.5
    DISMISSED IN PART, AFFIRMED IN PART.
    5
    We understand that Washington is foreclosed by his lawyer’s
    negligence, under circumstances where a similarly situated co-defendant
    received federal habeas corpus relief that prevented the death penalty
    absent a corrected sentencing process. But our conclusion is required
    under the Supreme Court’s precedent making the time limits for appeal
    mandatory and jurisdictional, and our conclusion that Rule 60(b) cannot
    be used to render a notice of appeal timely where Rule 4(a)(5) offers an
    identical avenue for relief.