Court Opinion

ID: 2647036
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-12-21 01:01:15.13812+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:49.654342
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 13-7548

ROGER LEE STEPHENS,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

EDDIE PEARSON, Warden,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.       Glen E. Conrad, Chief
District Judge. (7:12-cv-00356-GEC-RSB)

Submitted:   December 17, 2013            Decided:   December 20, 2013

Before KING, GREGORY, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Roger Lee Stephens, Appellant Pro Se.    John Watkins Blanton,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia,
for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:

             Roger    Lee    Stephens     seeks       to   appeal      the   district

court’s   order      denying    relief    on   his    28   U.S.C.      § 2254   (2006)

petition.      We     dismiss    the     appeal      for   lack   of    jurisdiction

because the notice of appeal was not timely filed.

             Parties are accorded thirty days after the entry of

the district court’s final judgment or order to note an appeal,

Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), unless the district court extends

the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5), or reopens the

appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6).                           “[T]he timely

filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional

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

             The district court’s order was entered on the docket

on April 16, 2013.          The notice of appeal was filed on September

4, 2013. *    Because Stephens failed to file a timely notice of

appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of the appeal

period, we deny leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss

the appeal.       We dispense with oral argument because the facts

and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

     *
       For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date
appearing on the notice of appeal is the earliest date it could
have been properly delivered to prison officials for mailing to
the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266
(1988).

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before   this   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                    DISMISSED

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