Opinion
2:19-cv-271-SPC-MM
08-01-2024
NORRIS WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER
SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL, JUDGE.
This case comes before the Court on limited remand from the Eleventh Circuit. The Court denied Norris Williams' Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence on October 30, 2020. (Doc. 17). The Eleventh Circuit denied Williams a certificate of appealability, (Doc. 25), and the Supreme Court denied certiorari, (Doc. 26). More than three years after the Court's denial of his § 2255 motion, Williams asked the Court to reconsider that decision. (Doc. 27). The Court denied that motion on February 2, 2024. (Doc. 28). Williams filed a notice of appeal well after the 60-day time limit. (Doc. 31). Because the notice states that Williams did not receive the February 2 order until May 28, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit construed it as a motion to reopen the appeal period under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(6) and remanded the case to this Court to decide the construed motion.
A party who did not receive notice of an order or judgment within 21 days of its entry may ask the court to reopen the time to appeal by filing a motion within 180 days after entry of the judgment or order or 14 days after receipt of such notice, whichever is earlier. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6); 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c). This time limit is jurisdictional. Homer v. Neighborhood Housing Servs. of Chicago, 583 U.S. 17, 18-19 (2017).
The key factual issue here is the date Williams constructively filed his notice of appeal by delivering it to prison officials for mailing. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1). In a certificate of service included with the motion, Williams swears he placed the motion in the prison mailing system on June 14, 2024. (Doc. 31 at 2). And the envelope the notice was mailed in was postmarked on June 14, 2024. (Doc. 31-1 at 7). The Court finds that Williams constructively filed the notice of appeal on June 14, 2024. Because Williams received the relevant order on May 28, the window to move to reopen the time to appeal closed on June 11, 2024. Williams' construed Rule 4(a)(6) motion is thus denied as untimely. The Clerk is directed to supplement the record with this Order and return the record to the Eleventh Circuit.
DONE and ORDERED.