People v. Everage

This is checkmate. After a series of improvident moves, defendant has lost his right to appeal. No further maneuver on his part can salvage it. The deadline for the pursuit of the right to file a late notice of appeal expired while we debated whether a premature notice of appeal conferred appellate jurisdiction.

While this blunder could be attributed to a host of failures, defendant made but one mistake. He put his faith in a judge’s advice. He did precisely what a judge told him to do in order to perfect his appeal. Perhaps he should have known better than to follow directions from a judge on…