Background
Daniel Kesneck, a pro se Florida state prisoner, appealed the district court’s order denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under Section twenty-eight United States Code, Section two thousand two hundred fifty-four. The district court issued its order on June twenty-seventh, two thousand twenty-five, but did not enter a separate judgment document.
The court’s reasoning
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure fifty-eight, a judgment must be set out in a separate document. When a separate judgment is not entered, it is deemed entered one hundred fifty days after the order. Kesneck’s notice of appeal, deemed filed on January twelfth, two thousand twenty-six, under the prison mailbox rule, was untimely to challenge the June twenty-seventh, two thousand twenty-five, order. Consequently, the court could not invoke its appellate jurisdiction.
What it means going forward
The dismissal prevents any review of the underlying habeas denial, leaving the district court’s order denying the writ in place.