UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 99-7205

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus

SLADE MILLER, Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern Dis- trict of Virginia, at Alexandria. Richard L. Williams, Senior Dis- trict Judge. (CR-89-196-A, CA-97-676-AM)

Submitted: September 8, 2000 Decided: September 15, 2000

Before LUTTIG and KING, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Slade Miller, Appellant Pro Se. William Neil Hammerstrom, Jr., OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

PER CURIAM: Slade Miller seeks to appeal the district court’s orders deny- ing his motion filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2000) and a motion to reconsider that order. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because Miller’s notice of appeal was not timely filed.

Parties are accorded sixty days, if the United States is a party, after entry of the district court’s final judgment or order to note an appeal, see Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1), unless the district court extends the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5) or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). This appeal period is “mandatory and jurisdictional.” Browder v. Director, Dep’t of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264 (1978) (quoting United States v. Robinson, 361 U.S. 220, 229 (1960)).

The district court’s orders were entered on the docket on May and June 11, 1997. Miller’s notice of appeal was filed on March 16, 1999.* Because Miller failed to file a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of the appeal period, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions

* The notice of appeal was actually filed on March 22, 1999, but we have given Miller the benefit of the Supreme Court’s decision in Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988).

are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED