Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-15-01216/USCOURTS-ca10-15-01216-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Jessie Tafoya
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

_________________________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

JESSIE TAFOYA, 

 Defendant - Appellant.

No. 15-1216

(D.C. Nos. 1:15-CV-00147-RM &

1:13-CR-00240-RM-3)

(D. Colo.)

_________________________________

ORDER

_________________________________

Before LUCERO, GORSUCH, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________

We raise sua sponte the question of whether this court has jurisdiction to consider 

this appeal. 

In a civil case in which the United States is a party, a notice of appeal must be 

filed within 60 days of entry of the order being appealed. See 28 U.S.C. § 2107(b); Fed. 

R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B). This court does not have the discretion to allow an untimely notice 

of appeal; a timely notice of appeal in a civil case is both mandatory and jurisdictional. 

See Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007). 

The district court entered an order denying Appellant’s motion pursuant to 28 

U.S.C. § 2255 on April 3, 2015 and entered separate judgment on April 6, 2015. 

Appellant’s June 22, 2015 notice of appeal is beyond Federal Rule of Appellate 

Procedure’s 4(a)(1)(B)’s sixty-day time frame. Even if the notice of appeal was filed on 

FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

July 30, 2015

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 15-1216 Document: 01019468431 Date Filed: 07/30/2015 Page: 1 
2

June 16, 2015 as Appellant asserts, a June 16, 2015 notice of appeal is beyond the sixtyday time frame. “Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(B) unambiguously states 

that the sixty-day time frame is measured from the date of entry of the judgment,” not the 

date of receipt. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance v. Bureau of Land Mgmt., 438 F. 

App’x 669, 673 (10th Cir. 2011) (unpublished) (emphasis in original). Appellant’s pro se 

status “does not excuse the obligation . . . to comply with the fundamental requirements 

of the Federal Rules of . . . Appellate Procedure.” Ogden v. San Juan Cty., 32 F.3d 452, 

455 (10th Cir. 1994). 

Because the notice of appeal was filed beyond the sixty-day time frame, the court 

lacks jurisdiction over this appeal.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

Entered for the Court

ELISABETH A. SHUMAKER, Clerk

by: Lindy Lucero Schaible

 Counsel to the Clerk

Appellate Case: 15-1216 Document: 01019468431 Date Filed: 07/30/2015 Page: 2