Opinion ID: 366056
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Subject Matter of the Instant Appeal

Text: 6 The district court indicated that it denied the November 3, 1978, motion primarily because the issue of the effect of the double jeopardy clause upon further prosecution of Ajimura had already been fully litigated. 1 Although the notice of appeal was filed immediately after this order, the parties dispute the subject matter here on appeal. Ajimura contends that this court may appropriately address the district court's denial of his double jeopardy claim on the merits. The Government, however, claims that the only issue upon appeal is whether res judicata barred further consideration of the double jeopardy claim by the district court. 7 We agree with the Government. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b) specifies that an appeal by a criminal defendant must be taken within ten days of the entry of the judgment or order appealed from, unless the district court allows an additional thirty days. Thus, because the district court's orders of March 16, 1978, and June 1, 1978, were entered more than ten days prior to the date of the notice of appeal, an appeal as to those two orders was not timely filed. We thus may not review those orders. See United States v. Stolarz, 547 F.2d 108, 109-10 (9th Cir. 1976), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 851, 98 S.Ct. 162, 54 L.Ed.2d 119 (1977); Smith v. United States, 425 F.2d 173, 174 (9th Cir. 1970). 8 It is true that many interlocutory orders cannot be appealed at the time of entry of the order. Instead they are reviewed as a part of an appeal from a later, appealable order. See United States v. Ryan, 402 U.S. 530, 533, 91 S.Ct. 1580, 29 L.Ed.2d 85 (1971); DiBella v. United States, 369 U.S. 121, 129, 82 S.Ct. 654, 7 L.Ed.2d 614 (1962); Howfield, Inc. v. United States, 409 F.2d 694, 696-97 (9th Cir. 1969); 18 U.S.C. § 3731; 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 9 An order denying a motion to bar retrial because of the double jeopardy clause is immediately appealable. In Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977), decided over nine months before the district court's order of March 16, 1978, the Supreme Court held that pretrial orders rejecting claims of former jeopardy . . . constitute 'final decisions' and thus satisfy the jurisdictional prerequisites of § 1291. Id. at 662, 97 S.Ct. at 2042. Thus, Ajimura could have appealed immediately from the district court's order of March 16, 1978. 10 The time limits of Rule 4(b) prevent undue delay in the administration of justice and provide finality of orders and judgments, and thus must be carefully respected. See Stolarz, 547 F.2d at 109-10; Smith,425 F.2d at 174; Advisory Committee Notes to Fed.R.App.P. 3, Reprinted in 28 U.S.C.A.Fed.R.App.P. at 8; 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 204.02(1) (1975); 16 C. Wright, A. Miller, E. Cooper, & E. Gressman, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3950 (1977). Had Ajimura complied with the ten-day time limit of Rule 4(b), his appeal from the March 16 order would have been taken in March of 1978. But he now urges us to address the substance of the March 16 order even though he did not file his notice of appeal for almost seven months. For us to consider the effect of the double jeopardy clause upon Ajimura's retrial would thus eviscerate Rule 4(b); this we may not do. Whether we agree with the Seventh Circuit that denial of a double jeopardy claim may be reviewed on appeal from a judgment of conviction, See United States v. Gaertner, 583 F.2d 308 (7th Cir. 1978), is not now before us. 11 We conclude that upon this appeal we may review only the matters decided by the district court's order of November 3, 1978.