Opinion
21-4695
06-20-2023
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. STUART ALEXANDER DAMERI, Defendant-Appellant.
Stuart Alexander Dameri, Appellant Pro Se. Joseph Attias, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, Matthew John Heck, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.
UNPUBLISHED
Submitted: April 27, 2023
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Arenda L. Wright Allen, District Judge. (2:20-cr-00085-AWA-RJK-1)
Stuart Alexander Dameri, Appellant Pro Se.
Joseph Attias, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, Matthew John Heck, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before KING, RICHARDSON, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM
Stuart Alexander Dameri seeks to appeal his conviction and 168-month sentence following his guilty plea, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2). The Government moves to dismiss his appeal as untimely. We dismiss the appeal.
In criminal cases, the defendant must file the notice of appeal within 14 days after the entry of judgment. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A). With or without a motion, upon a showing of excusable neglect or good cause, the district court may grant an extension of up to 30 days to file a notice of appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(4). Although the appeal period in a criminal case is not a jurisdictional provision, but rather a claim-processing rule, United States v. Urutyan, 564 F.3d 679, 685 (4th Cir. 2009), "[w]hen the Government promptly invokes the rule in response to a late-filed criminal appeal, we must dismiss," United States v. Oliver, 878 F.3d 120, 123 (4th Cir. 2017).
The district court entered the criminal judgment on July 19, 2021. Dameri filed the notice of appeal, at the earliest, on December 4, 2021. Because Dameri failed to file a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension of the appeal period and the Government has promptly invoked the appeal's untimeliness, see 4th Cir. R. 27(f)(2), we grant the Government's motion to dismiss the appeal. We grant Dameri's motion to file an oversized brief. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED