James Bryant v. Marion J. Elliott, Warden of Atmore State Prison

In this appeal from the denial of ha-beas corpus the preliminary question is whether the appeal was timely, since Rule 4(a) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires petitioner to file a notice of appeal with the Clerk of the District Court within thirty days of the entry of the District Court’s order. Here the petitioner’s notice of appeal was less than five days overdue.

Petitioner appealed in forma pauperis, apparently without the assistance of an attorney. While we do not suggest that ignorance alone is an excuse, we are influenced by doubts that he understood Rule 4(a)’s…