Random Appeal Issues

 Here is some random appeal issues of interest I have come across recently:

“A prisoner’s delivery of a notice of appeal to prison authorities for mailing within thirty days after the entry of the judgment or order appealed from effects a timely filing under [Mississippi] Rule [of Appellate Procedure] 4(a).” Melton v. State, 930 So. 2d 452, 454 (¶7)(Miss. Ct. App. 2006).

Rule 5.04 of the Uniform Civil Rules of Circuit and County Court Practice provides that a “party desiring to appeal a decision from a lower court must file a written notice of appeal with the circuit court clerk,” and “[a] copy of that notice must be provided to all parties or their attorneys of record and the lower court or lower authority whose order or judgment is being appealed.” In a recent decision, the supreme court found that a petitioner’s failure to provide MDOC with notice of his petition for judicial review resulted in the circuit court lacking jurisdiction over the appeal. Smith v. State, 293 So. 3d 238, 242-43 (¶22) (Miss. 2020).