United States v. Luis Gonzalez-Lauzan, Jr.

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: June 23, 2025
• Docket: 25-10358
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 25-10358 Document: 20-1 Date Filed: 06/23/2025 Page: 1 of 3

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 25-10358 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee. versus LUIS GONZALEZ-LAUZAN, JR., a.k.a. Luisito, a.k.a. Luis Gonzalez, Jr.,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida USCA11 Case: 25-10358 Document: 20-1 Date Filed: 06/23/2025 Page: 2 of 3

2 Opinion of the Court 25-10358

D.C. Docket No. 1:02-cr-20572-JIC-1 ____________________

Before NEWSOM, LUCK, and KIDD, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Luis Gonzalez-Lauzan, Jr. appeals from the district court’s December 4, 2024, order denying his motion for compassionate re- lease under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The government filed a mo- tion to dismiss Gonzalez-Lauzan’s appeal as untimely. Under the prison mailbox rule, Gonzalez-Lauzan’s notice of appeal is deemed filed on January 28, 2025, the date he signed it. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1) (describing the prison mailbox rule); Hou- ston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988) (explaining that, under the rule, a notice of appeal is deemed filed on the date the prisoner de- livered it to prison authorities); Jeffries v. United States, 748 F.3d 1310, 1314 (11th Cir. 2014) (explaining that, absent evidence to the contrary, we assume that a prisoner delivered his notice on the date that he signed it). The deadline to file the notice was December 18, 2024. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A)(i) (providing that, in criminal cases, a defendant must file a notice of appeal within 14 days after the entry of the order or judgment being appealed); United States v. Fair, 326 F.3d 1317, 1318 (11th Cir. 2003) (explaining that sentence reduction motions are “criminal in nature”). The notice is thus untimely to appeal from the December 4, 2024, order. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A)(i). The notice is also deemed filed more than 30 days after the December 18 deadline, so USCA11 Case: 25-10358 Document: 20-1 Date Filed: 06/23/2025 Page: 3 of 3

25-10358 Opinion of the Court 3

Gonzalez-Lauzan is not eligible for an extension of time. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(4) (providing that district courts can “extend the time to file a notice of appeal for a period not to exceed 30 days from the expiration of the time otherwise prescribed by . . . Rule 4(b)”); United States v. Lopez, 562 F.3d 1309, 1314 (11th Cir. 2009). Accordingly, because the government raised the issue of timeliness, we must apply Rule 4(b)(1)(A)(i) and dismiss this appeal as untimely. See Lopez, 562 F.3d at 1314. The motion to dismiss is GRANTED, and this appeal is DISMISSED. All other pending mo- tions are DENIED as moot.