United States v. Keith

322 F. App'x 28
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided April 10, 2009·No. Nos. 08-1821-cr, 08-2708-cr·Published

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-Appellant John Bowens (“Bowens”) appeals from an order of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Gleeson, J.), ruling that Bow-ens is ineligible for a reduction in his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 8582(e)(2) and Amendment 706, U.S.S.G. Supp. to App. C, amend. 706 (2008). First, Bowens argues that Amendment 706 applies because Bowens was not sentenced to a statutory maximum or minimum, or as a career offender, but rather based on “a guidelines calculation that was then reduced based on defendant’s substantial assistance to the authorities.” Bowens’s Br. 5. Second, Bowens argues that, even if Amendment 706 is not applicable according to U.S.S.G. § lB1.10(a)(2)(B), United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), renders that Guideline advisory, and the district court therefore has the discretion to decide whether or not to grant a sentencing reduction. Additionally, Bruce R. Bryan, Esq. (“Bryan”), appellate counsel for Bow-ens’s co-defendant Ivan Keith’s (“Keith”) appeal, requests to be relieved of his position as Keith’s counsel, arguing that there are no non-frivolous issues to be appealed on Keith’s behalf. Finally, the government moves for a summary affirmance of Keith’s sentence. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues presented for review.

I. Bowens’s Appeal

A. Timeliness

Bowens’s appeal is untimely under Fed. RApp. P. 4(b)(1)(A)®, which requires a criminal defendant to file a notice of appeal within ten days of the entry of the judgment or order being appealed. Fed. R.App. P. 26(a)(2) excludes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The district court entered an order on April 1, 2008 finding that it lacked the authority to grant Bowens a sentence reduction. Bow-ens did not file a notice of appeal until April 17, 2008, and thus his appeal is untimely. See United States v. Arrango, 291 F.3d 170, 172 (2d Cir.2002) (“We ... hold that the [Fed. RApp. P. 4] ten-day period applies [to appeals from the denial of a motion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).]”).

Fed. R.App. P. 4(b)(4), however, provides that even “after the time [to file a notice of appeal] has expired,” the district court may “extend the time to file a notice of appeal for a period not to exceed 30 days from the expiration of the time otherwise provided by ... Rule 4(b)” based on “a finding of excusable neglect or good cause.” We have previously held that a criminal defendant’s notice of appeal filed within the 30-day grace period “should be treated as a request for an extension of the time to file.” United States v. Batista, 22 F.3d 492, 494 (2d Cir.1994). “[A] district court faced with such a request must make a finding on that issue, and if excusable neglect is found, decide whether to exercise its discretion by granting the application.” Id. There is no indication that the district court made such a finding in the case at bar, and hence Rule 4(b) has not been complied with.

[30] Even though we have recently held “that Rule 4(b) is not jurisdictional,” we have made clear that this conclusion “does not authorize courts to disregard it when it is raised.” United States v. Frias, 521 F.3d 229, 234 (2d Cir.2008). While a failure to comply with Rule 4(b) “does not deprive us of subject-matter jurisdiction over the appeal,” when the government “properly objects to the untimeliness of a defendant’s criminal appeal, Rule 4(b) is mandatory and inflexible.” Id. (emphasis in original). Here, the district court has made no finding of good cause or excusable neglect, and the government has objected to Bowens’s appeal as untimely. See Gov. Br. 8. Thus, we cannot grant Bowens relief absent a remand to the district court for the required finding under Rule 4(b)(4). See United States v. Montoya, 335 F.3d 73, 76 (2d Cir.2003) (construing a notice of appeal as falling within the Rule 4(b) grace period, and as a result, holding that “we dismiss the appeal without prejudice to further proceedings, and remand to the district court,” which “is directed to determine whether Montoya can demonstrate ‘excusable neglect or good cause’ for failure to file his notice of appeal within the ten day period provided in Rule 4(b)(1)(A).”). We find a remand unnecessary because, as explained below, Bowens’s claims are meritless.2

B. Merits

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