United States Tenth Circuit

On remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration of the circuit court's prior sua sponte dismissal of defendant's appeal as untimely, defendant's conviction for a drug offense is affirmed on the merits where: 1) the government forfeited its opportunity to ensure enforcement of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b); 2) although the circuit court finds that it may raise Rule 4(b)'s time bar sua sponte, the power should not be invoked when judicial resources and administration are not implicated and the delay has not been inordinate; 3) in this case, it was not appropriate to sua sponte raise the timeliness bar; and 4) on the merits, an officer's inspection of the inside of defendant's trailer did not violate the Fourth Amendment and defendant validly consented to a subsequent search.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/29/2008
• Published 03/03/2008

Judges

• Before LUCERO, EBEL, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Marc H. Robert, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Cruces, NM, on the brief for Defendant-Appellant., Larry Gomez, Acting United States Attorney, and Terri J. Abernathy, Assistant United States Attorney, Las Cruces, NM, on the brief for Plaintiff-Appellee.