Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-09-08238/USCOURTS-ca4-09-08238-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Clark Duvall Waddell
Appellant

Document Text:

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-8238

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

CLARK DUVALL WADDELL,

Defendant – Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle

District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. James A. Beaty, Jr., 

Chief District Judge. (1:97-cr-00255-JAB-1)

Submitted: May 3, 2010 Decided: May 27, 2010

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Clark Duvall Waddell, Appellant Pro Se. Angela Hewlett Miller, 

Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, 

for Appellee. 

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Appeal: 09-8238 Doc: 9 Filed: 05/27/2010 Pg: 1 of 3
2

PER CURIAM:

Clark Duvall Waddell seeks to appeal the district 

court’s order denying his motion to revisit his motion for 

sentence reduction. In criminal cases, the defendant must file 

a notice of appeal within ten days after the entry of judgment

or the order being appealed.1

The district court entered its order on October 20, 

2009. The undated notice of appeal was filed on December 7, 

2009. Because Waddell failed to file a timely notice of appeal 

or obtain an extension of the appeal period, we dismiss the 

 Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A); see

United States v. Little, 392 F.3d 671, 680-81 (4th Cir. 2004) 

(applying Rule 4(b)(1)(A) appeal period to appeal from Rule 35 

ruling). With or without a motion, upon a showing of excusable 

neglect or good cause, the district court may grant an extension 

of up to thirty days to file a notice of appeal. Fed. R. App. 

P. 4(b)(4); United States v. Reyes, 759 F.2d 351, 353 (4th Cir. 

1985).

 1 Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure was 

amended effective December 1, 2009, to establish a fourteen-day 

appeal period in criminal appeals. Additionally, Fed. R. App. 

P. 26, governing computation of time periods, was also amended 

effective December 1, 2009, to require that all calendar days be 

counted, rather than omitting weekends and holidays, as formerly 

required. Although the time periods established by the earlier 

version of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure apply in 

this case, we note that Waddell’s appeal would have been 

untimely under the new version of the rules.

Appeal: 09-8238 Doc: 9 Filed: 05/27/2010 Pg: 2 of 3
3

appeal.2

DISMISSED

 We dispense with oral argument because the facts and 

legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials 

before the court and argument would not aid the decisional 

process.

 2 We recognize that the appeal period is not a 

jurisdictional provision in criminal cases, but rather a claim 

processing rule. See Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 209-14

(2007). Because Waddell’s appeal is meritless and its 

consideration is not in the best interest of judicial economy, 

see United States v. Goodwyn, 596 F.3d 233, 235 (4th Cir. 2010) 

(recognizing that Rule 35(a) authorizes the reconsideration of a 

sentence only if a motion is filed within fourteen days of 

judgment and only if it is necessary to correct an 

“arithmetical, technical, or other clear error”), we exercise 

our inherent power to dismiss it. See United States v. 

Mitchell, 518 F.3d 740, 744 (10th Cir. 2008). 

Appeal: 09-8238 Doc: 9 Filed: 05/27/2010 Pg: 3 of 3