UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 07-7465
WILLIAM ERIC FORD, SR.,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA; HENRY MCMASTER, Attorney General;
WARDEN, BROAD RIVER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION,
Respondents - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Greenville. Margaret B. Seymour, District
Judge. (6:06-cv-02401)
Submitted: February 28, 2008 Decided: March 6, 2008
Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
William Eric Ford, Sr., Appellant Pro Se. Donald John Zelenka
SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE, Columbia, South Carolina,
for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
William Eric Ford, Sr., seeks to appeal the district
court’s order dismissing his petition for habeas corpus relief, 28
U.S.C. § 2254 (2000). 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). This appeal period is “mandatory
and jurisdictional.” Browder v. Dir., Dep’t of Corr., 434 U.S.
257, 264 (1978) (quoting United States v. Robinson, 361 U.S. 220,
229 (1960)).
The district court’s order was entered on the docket on
August 23, 2007. The notice of appeal was dated September 25,
2007, and filed on October 1, 2007.* Because Ford failed to file
a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of
the appeal period, we dismiss the appeal. 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.
DISMISSED
*
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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