Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-20-02011/USCOURTS-ca10-20-02011-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Zachary Stephen Reeder
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

_________________________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

ZACHARY STEPHEN REEDER, 

 Defendant - Appellant.

No. 20-2011

(D.C. No. 2:17-CR-02904-KG-1)

(D. N.M.)

_________________________________

ORDER

_________________________________

Before HOLMES, PHILLIPS, and EID, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________

Appellant Zachary Stephen Reeder, acting pro se, filed a notice of his intent to 

appeal the district court’s judgment sentencing him to 25 years’ imprisonment for bank 

robbery, assault, and firearm charges, to which Mr. Reeder pled guilty pursuant to a 

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement. Mr. Reeder’s letter was 

liberally construed as a notice of appeal. See Arps v. Cormack, 170 F. App’x 27, 28 (10th 

Cir. 2006) (recognizing that “[t]he Supreme Court has held that notices of appeal are to 

be construed liberally”).

The government filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as untimely, and Mr. Reeder 

filed a response claiming that his notice of appeal is untimely because his attorney failed 

to advise him of his right to appeal. Upon consideration of these filings, the district court 

docket, and the applicable law, the Court grants the government’s motion to dismiss for 

the reasons set forth below.

FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

April 6, 2020

Christopher M. Wolpert

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 20-2011 Document: 010110329522 Date Filed: 04/06/2020 Page: 1
2

The defendant in a criminal case must file his notice of appeal in the district court 

within 14 days after entry of judgment. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1). The district court is 

authorized to extend the time to appeal, but the extension may not exceed 30 days after 

the time to appeal expires. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(4). The time limits set forth in Federal 

Rules of Appellate Procedure 4(b)(1) and 4(b)(4) are “inflexible claim-processing 

rule[s]” that the government may forfeit if it does not properly raise. United States v. 

Garduño, 506 F.3d 1287, 1291 (10th Cir. 2007). If the government properly invokes the 

time bar, however, this Court must grant relief. United States v. Mitchell, 518 F.3d 740, 

744 (10th Cir 2008) (citing Garduño, 506 F.3d at 1290-91).

Here, the district court sentenced Mr. Reeder to 25 years’ imprisonment on 

June 11, 2019 and entered its judgment and sentence on the docket the same day. The 

time to appeal expired 14 days later, on June 25, 2019. Over six months later, Mr. 

Reeder filed a letter requesting the appointment of a public defender to appeal his case, 

which the Court construes as a notice of appeal.

The government properly invoked the time bar by filing a motion to dismiss Mr. 

Reeder’s appeal as untimely. Accordingly, the Court grants the government’s motion and 

dismisses the appeal. See Mitchell, 518 F.3d at 744.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

Entered for the Court

CHRISTOPHER M. WOLPERT, Clerk

By: Olenka M. George

 Counsel to the Clerk

Appellate Case: 20-2011 Document: 010110329522 Date Filed: 04/06/2020 Page: 2