UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 13-6470
LEVON TODD,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
LEWIS SMITH,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Robert J. Conrad,
Jr., District Judge. (1:12-cv-00025-RJC)
Submitted: July 18, 2013 Decided: July 23, 2013
Before WILKINSON, MOTZ, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Levon Todd, Appellant Pro Se. Mary Carla Hollis, Assistant
Attorney General, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Levon Todd seeks to appeal the district court’s order
denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006) petition. 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). The district court may, however, extend the time
for filing a notice of appeal if a party so moves within thirty
days after expiration of the original appeal period and
demonstrates excusable neglect or good cause for the extension.
Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A)(i)-(ii); Washington v. Bumgarner, 882
F.2d 899, 900–01 (4th Cir. 1989).
The district court’s order dismissing Todd’s § 2254
petition was entered on the docket on January 14, 2013. Thus,
Todd had until February 13, 2013 to file a notice of appeal.
The notice of appeal was filed, at the earliest, on February 23,
2013. * Because Todd’s notice of appeal was filed beyond the
expiration of the appeal period but within the thirty-day
excusable neglect period, we construe as a timely request for an
*
Although Todd’s notice of appeal indicates it was signed
on February 23, 2013, Todd indicates in his informal brief that
his notice of appeal was placed in his institution’s internal
mailing system for mailing on March 7, 2013. See Houston v.
Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988) (holding that a pro se prisoner’s
notice of appeal is considered filed the moment it is delivered
to prison authorities for mailing to the court).
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extension of time the letter accompanying Todd’s notice of
appeal. Accordingly, we remand this case to the district court
for the limited purpose of determining whether Todd has
demonstrated excusable neglect or good cause warranting an
extension of the appeal period. The record, as supplemented,
will then be returned to this court for further consideration.
REMANDED
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