United States v. Stuart Dameri

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: June 20, 2023
• Docket: 21-4695
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 21-4695 Doc: 52 Filed: 06/20/2023 Pg: 1 of 2

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 21-4695

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

STUART ALEXANDER DAMERI,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Arenda L. Wright Allen, District Judge. (2:20-cr-00085-AWA-RJK-1)

Submitted: April 27, 2023 Decided: June 20, 2023

Before KING, RICHARDSON, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Stuart Alexander Dameri, Appellant Pro Se. Joseph Attias, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, Matthew John Heck, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 21-4695 Doc: 52 Filed: 06/20/2023 Pg: 2 of 2

PER CURIAM:

Stuart Alexander Dameri seeks to appeal his conviction and 168-month sentence

following his guilty plea, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to receipt of child

pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2). The Government moves to dismiss

his appeal as untimely. We dismiss the appeal.

In criminal cases, the defendant must file the notice of appeal within 14 days after

the entry of judgment. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A). With or without a motion, upon a

showing of excusable neglect or good cause, 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). Although the appeal

period in a criminal case is not a jurisdictional provision, but rather a claim-processing rule,

United States v. Urutyan, 564 F.3d 679, 685 (4th Cir. 2009), “[w]hen the Government

promptly invokes the rule in response to a late-filed criminal appeal, we must dismiss,”

United States v. Oliver, 878 F.3d 120, 123 (4th Cir. 2017).

The district court entered the criminal judgment on July 19, 2021. Dameri filed the

notice of appeal, at the earliest, on December 4, 2021. Because Dameri failed to file a

timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension of the appeal period and the Government

has promptly invoked the appeal’s untimeliness, see 4th Cir. R. 27(f)(2), we grant the

Government’s motion to dismiss the appeal. We grant Dameri’s motion to file an oversized

brief. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are

adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the

decisional process.

DISMISSED