US v. Silas Jones, Jr.

Filing

OPINION DIRECTING LIMITED REMAND [4CCA retains jurisdiction]. Originating case number: 4:13-cr-00317-RBH-4. Copies to all parties and the district court. [1000019756] [15-7615]

Appeal: 15-7615

Doc: 47

Filed: 02/08/2017

Pg: 1 of 3

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-7615

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
SILAS DOUGLAS JONES, JR.,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Florence. R. Bryan Harwell, District Judge.
(4:13-cr-00317-RBH-4)

Submitted:

January 31, 2017

Before GREGORY,
Judges.

Chief

Judge,

Decided:

and

SHEDD

and

February 8, 2017

KEENAN,

Circuit

Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

John J. Korzen, Director, Kyleigh E. Feehs, Blake E. Stafford,
Third-Year Law Students, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
APPELLATE ADVOCACY CLINIC, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for
Appellant.
Beth Drake, Acting United States Attorney, Robert
Frank Daley, Jr., Alfred W. Bethea, Jr., Assistant United States
Attorneys, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Appeal: 15-7615

Doc: 47

Filed: 02/08/2017

Pg: 2 of 3

PER CURIAM:
Silas

Douglas

Jones,

Jr.,

seeks

to

appeal

the

district

court’s order denying his motion for reduction of sentence under
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2)(2012).

The Government moves to dismiss

the appeal as untimely filed.

In criminal cases, the defendant

must file the notice of appeal within 14 days after the entry of
judgment.
Alvarez,

Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A); see United States v.
210

F.3d

that § 3582(c)(2)

309,

proceeding

310
is

(5th

Cir.

criminal

4(b)(1)(A) appeal period applies).

in

2000)
nature

(holding
and

Rule

With or without a motion,

upon a showing of excusable neglect or good cause in a criminal
proceeding, 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. Reyes, 759 F.2d 351, 353 (4th Cir. 1985).
The district court entered its order denying Jones’ motion
on September 16, 2015.

The district court received the notice

of appeal on October 14, after the expiration of the appeal
period but within the 30-day excusable neglect period.

Because

Jones is incarcerated, the notice is considered filed as of the
date it was properly delivered to prison officials for mailing
to the court.

Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1); Houston v. Lack, 487

U.S. 266, 276 (1988).

The record does not reveal when Jones

delivered the notice of appeal to prison officials for mailing.
Accordingly,

we

remand

the

case
2

for

the

limited

purpose

of

Appeal: 15-7615

Doc: 47

Filed: 02/08/2017

Pg: 3 of 3

allowing the district court to obtain this information from the
parties and to determine whether the filing was timely under
Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A), (c)(1), and Houston v. Lack.

If the

district court finds the notice of appeal was not timely filed,
it

should

then

consider

period is warranted.

whether

an

extension

of

the

appeal

The record, as supplemented, will then be

returned to this court for further consideration.
REMANDED

3