Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-19-04543/USCOURTS-ca4-19-04543-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Darius Keyon Benson
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

FILED: January 28, 2020 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT 

No. 19-4543 

(7:18-cr-00036-DCC-1)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee, 

 v. 

DARIUS KEYON BENSON, 

 Defendant - Appellant. 

O R D E R 

Darius Keyon Benson seeks to appeal his conviction and sentence. The Government 

has moved to dismiss the appeal as untimely. 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); United States v. Oliver, 878 F.3d 120, 123 (4th Cir. 2017). 

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The district court entered judgment on June 3, 2019. Benson filed his pro se notice 

of appeal on July 5, 2019.*

 Because the notice of appeal was filed within the excusable 

neglect period, we defer action on the Government’s motion to dismiss and remand the 

case to the district court for a determination of whether Benson has shown excusable 

neglect or good cause warranting an extension of the 14-day appeal period. The record, as 

supplemented, will then be returned to this court for further consideration. 

 For the Court 

 /s/ Patricia S. Connor, Clerk 

 

 *

 For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date appearing on the notice of 

appeal is the earliest date Benson could have delivered the notice to prison officials for 

mailing to the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988). 

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