UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 05-4310

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus

WILLIE JAMES MILLER, a/k/a Willie Gene Miller, Defendant - Appellant, versus

WILLIE L. HUGH; SHAWN D. CHAPMAN; ORIGEN FINANCIAL INC; WILLIAMS FINANCIAL SERVICES INCORPORATED, Parties in Interest.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Terry L. Wooten, District Judge. (CR-02-471-TLW)

Submitted: December 15, 2005 Decided: December 20, 2005

Before MICHAEL and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jerry M. Screen, SCREEN & LEVY, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant. Arthur Bradley Parham, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

- 2 - PER CURIAM: By notice of appeal dated February 12, 2005, Willie James Miller seeks to appeal a sentence imposed upon him by a criminal judgment entered on July 28, 2003. In criminal cases, the defendant must file his notice of appeal within ten days of the entry of judgment. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A). That appeal period may be extended for a maximum of thirty days upon a showing of good cause or excusable neglect. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(4). The time periods established by Rule 4 are “mandatory and jurisdictional.”

Browder v. Director, Dep’t of Corr., 434 U.S. 257, 264 (1978).

Because Miller failed to file a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension of the appeal period, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

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