Federal Criminal Appeal Deadline: 14 Days Under FRAP 4(b) (2026)

A federal criminal conviction leaves you two weeks to appeal. Not thirty days, not a month, not “about two weeks.” Fourteen days from the entry of judgment, counted under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b), and the clock does not wait for you to find a lawyer, read the transcript, or decide whether the appeal is worth it. The civil side of the same rule gives a losing party 30 days to file a notice of appeal. Criminal defendants get less than half that time, and the courts enforce it without sympathy.

This guide walks through the rule the way it actually works: the defendant’s 14 days, the government’s 30, the motions that pause the clock, the 30-day extension that is the only safety valve, and the traps that have ended appeals before they started.

The Defendant’s 14 Days Under FRAP 4(b)(1)(A)

Rule 4(b)(1)(A) says a defendant’s notice of appeal must be filed in the district court within 14 days after the later of two events: the entry of the judgment or order being appealed, or the filing of the government’s notice of appeal. Two details in that sentence do most of the work. A third detail matters for defendants in custody: our federal appeal deadline prison mailbox rule guide explains how, under FRAP 4(c), a notice is timely when it is deposited in the prison’s internal legal-mail system by the deadline, with a declaration or postmark as proof.

First, the notice goes to the district court, not the court of appeals. A notice filed in the wrong court is not filed at all for deadline purposes, and the court of appeals will not rescue it. Second, “entry” means entry on the criminal docket. The judge may announce a sentence in open court on a Monday and sign the judgment on Wednesday; the clock runs from the docket entry, not the announcement. A notice filed after the announcement but before entry is treated as filed on the date of entry under Rule 4(b)(2), so an early filing is safe. A late one is not.

Count the days under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(a): exclude the trigger day, count every calendar day after it, and if the fourteenth day lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next day that is not one of those. Judgment entered Friday, November 13, 2026: day one is Saturday, November 14, and day fourteen is Friday, November 27, 2026. That is the defendant’s deadline, and there is no extra time for mailing. The notice must be filed in the district court by that date.

The Government’s 30 Days and the “Later Of” Trap

When the government is entitled to appeal, Rule 4(b)(1)(B) gives it 30 days after the later of the entry of the judgment or order, or the filing of a notice of appeal by any defendant. The government does not get to appeal a conviction the way a defendant does. Its appeal rights are limited by statute, principally 18 U.S.C. 3731, which covers orders dismissing an indictment or information and orders suppressing or returning evidence, among others. A defendant appealing a conviction will almost never see a government cross-appeal; a defendant appealing a suppression ruling or a dismissal very well might.

The “later of” language cuts both ways, and this is the part people miss. If the government files its notice first, the defendant’s 14 days run from the government’s filing, not from the judgment. Suppose judgment is entered Friday, November 13, 2026, and the government files its notice Monday, November 23. The defendant’s deadline is now Monday, December 7, 2026, fourteen days after the government’s filing, even though fourteen days from the judgment would have expired November 27. The same logic runs in reverse: if the defendant files Monday, November 16, the government’s 30 days run from that filing, so its deadline is Wednesday, December 16, 2026, not Monday, December 14, which is thirty days from the judgment. Check both triggers every time. The later one controls.

Worked Date Examples

All dates below use Rule 26(a) counting: the trigger day is excluded, weekends and holidays count unless the last day falls on one, in which case the deadline rolls forward.

If you are counting by hand, run the result through the deadline calculator and check it a second time. A one-day counting error is the most common way a criminal appeal dies, and it is also the most avoidable.

Motions That Pause the Clock: Rules 29, 33, and 34

Rule 4(b)(3)(A) tolls the appeal clock when the defendant timely makes one of three motions under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: a motion for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29, a motion for a new trial under Rule 33, or a motion in arrest of judgment under Rule 34. When one of those motions is timely filed, the notice of appeal from a judgment of conviction must be filed within 14 days after the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion, or within 14 days after the entry of the judgment of conviction, whichever period ends later.

Two limits matter. First, a Rule 33 motion based on newly discovered evidence tolls only if it is made no later than 14 days after the entry of judgment. A newly-discovered-evidence motion filed on day twenty does not pause anything. A Rule 33 motion on any other ground must simply be timely under Rule 33 itself, which generally means within 14 days after the verdict or finding of guilty. Second, the tolling applies to the defendant’s appeal from the judgment of conviction. It does not create a fresh clock for every order in the case.

A notice filed after the court announces a decision but before it disposes of one of these motions becomes effective when the later of the two events happens: the entry of the order disposing of the last motion, or the entry of the judgment of conviction. And a valid notice of appeal is effective, without amendment, to appeal from an order disposing of any of these motions. File once, file early, and let the rule do the work.

One thing the tolling list does not include: a motion to reconsider. The Seventh Circuit and others have held that a motion for reconsideration of an order denying a Rule 33 motion does not toll the appeal clock. If your only post-trial filing is a reconsideration motion, the 14 days keep running.

Extensions: 30 Days, No More, and No Automatic Grant

Rule 4(b)(4) is the only safety valve. On a finding of excusable neglect or good cause, the district court may extend the time to file a notice of appeal for up to 30 days from the expiration of the time otherwise prescribed by Rule 4(b). The court may act before or after the time has expired, with or without motion and notice. That last phrase is unusual and worth understanding: in a criminal case, unlike a civil one, the district court can extend the time even if nobody asked.

But the extension is not automatic, and the 30 days are a hard cap. If the defendant’s deadline is Friday, November 27, 2026, the latest possible extended deadline is Monday, December 28, 2026, thirty days later, with the Sunday rollover. Nothing the court does can push it further. The Pioneer four-factor test from the civil side (prejudice to the other side, length of delay, reason for the delay and whether it was within the movant’s control, and good faith) is the framework courts use to judge excusable neglect, and the same reasoning shows up in criminal extension decisions.

A July 2026 Seventh Circuit decision, United States v. Carter, sharpened the procedure: when a criminal notice of appeal arrives late but within the 30-day extension window, the court of appeals should not dismiss it outright. The district court must first decide whether good cause or excusable neglect exists, even if the defendant never filed an extension motion. That is a procedural protection, not a free pass. It buys a hearing on the extension, not the extension itself, and the government can still win that hearing.

What the Deadline Is Not: Jurisdiction

Here the criminal rule differs from its civil sibling in a way that matters. The civil 30-day deadline in Rule 4(a) is jurisdictional: miss it and the court of appeals has no power to hear the case, full stop, under Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007). The criminal 14-day deadline is not. The Fourth Circuit held in United States v. Marsh, 944 F.3d 524 (2019), that Rule 4(b) is a mandatory claim-processing rule that must be strictly applied, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, 138 S. Ct. 13 (2017), supplies the framework: a rule-based time limit not prescribed by statute is a claim-processing rule, not a jurisdictional one.

That distinction has one practical consequence and one limit. The consequence: the government must invoke the deadline. If the government does not raise untimeliness, it can waive or forfeit the objection, and the appeal proceeds. The limit: once the government does invoke it, the court has no discretion to excuse the delay. In Marsh, the defendant filed 283 days after judgment, and the district court’s own failure to advise him of his right to appeal, a violation of Criminal Rule 32(j), could not save him. Equitable doctrines are unavailable. The court dismissed the appeal and told him his remedy for the Rule 32(j) violation lay in collateral proceedings, not in an extension of the appeal clock. Strictly applied means strictly applied.

The civil contrast is worth keeping straight because the two rules sit side by side in the same rulebook. Civil appeals get 30 days, or 60 when the United States is a party, and the deadline is jurisdictional. Criminal appeals get 14 days for the defendant and 30 for the government, and the deadline is a mandatory claim-processing rule. Both will end an appeal that misses them. The extension and reopening rules for civil appeals run on a different clock again, and the tolling rules for civil post-judgment motions use a different list of motions. Do not mix the two halves of Rule 4.

Rule 35(a) Sentence Correction Does Not Stop the Clock

Rule 4(b)(5) preserves the district court’s power to correct a sentence under Criminal Rule 35(a), which allows a correction within 14 days after sentencing for arithmetical, technical, or other clear error. Filing a notice of appeal does not strip the district court of that jurisdiction, and filing a Rule 35(a) motion does not suspend the time to appeal. The two clocks run side by side. A defendant who files a Rule 35(a) motion and waits for the ruling before appealing will find the 14 days gone. File the notice of appeal on time and let the sentence-correction motion run its own course.

Bankruptcy appeals also run on a 14-day clock, under Bankruptcy Rule 8002 and FRAP 6, but with their own tolling motions and extension rules. The number is a coincidence, not a shared rule.

Five Mistakes That Kill a Criminal Appeal

1. Filing in the court of appeals. The notice belongs in the district court. A notice sent to the circuit clerk is not filed, and the district court cannot fix it after the 14 days expire.

2. Counting from the sentencing hearing instead of the docket entry. The judge’s oral announcement starts nothing. Entry on the criminal docket starts the clock. Check the docket, not your memory of the hearing.

3. Assuming the civil 30 days apply. Clients, and sometimes lawyers who rarely handle criminal cases, reach for the familiar 30-day civil number. In a criminal case that instinct costs sixteen days you do not have.

4. Filing a newly-discovered-evidence Rule 33 motion late and expecting tolling. The 14-day qualifier in Rule 4(b)(3)(A)(ii) is absolute. A Rule 33 motion grounded in newly discovered evidence must be made within 14 days after entry of judgment to toll the appeal clock. Day fifteen is too late.

5. Waiting for an extension instead of filing. The 30-day extension under Rule 4(b)(4) requires a finding of excusable neglect or good cause, and the government can oppose it. The safe move is always to file the notice on time and argue about the extension later, never the other way around. If you think you might need an extension, file the notice first.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days does a federal criminal defendant have to appeal?

Fourteen days. Under FRAP 4(b)(1)(A), a defendant’s notice of appeal must be filed in the district court within 14 days after the later of the entry of the judgment or order being appealed, or the filing of the government’s notice of appeal.

How long does the government have to appeal in a federal criminal case?

Thirty days. Under FRAP 4(b)(1)(B), when the government is entitled to appeal, its notice must be filed within 30 days after the later of the entry of the judgment or order, or the filing of a notice of appeal by any defendant. The government’s right to appeal is also limited by statute, mainly 18 U.S.C. 3731.

Does filing a motion for a new trial extend the criminal appeal deadline?

Yes, if the motion is timely. A timely Rule 29, Rule 33, or Rule 34 motion tolls the clock under FRAP 4(b)(3)(A), and the notice of appeal is then due within 14 days after the order disposing of the last such motion or 14 days after entry of the judgment of conviction, whichever ends later. A Rule 33 motion based on newly discovered evidence tolls only if made within 14 days after entry of judgment.

Can the 14-day criminal appeal deadline be extended?

Yes, by up to 30 days. Under FRAP 4(b)(4), the district court may extend the time on a finding of excusable neglect or good cause, before or after the time expires, with or without motion and notice. The extension cannot exceed 30 days from the expiration of the original period.

Is the criminal appeal deadline jurisdictional?

No. Unlike the civil deadline in FRAP 4(a), which is jurisdictional under Bowles v. Russell, the criminal deadline in FRAP 4(b) is a mandatory claim-processing rule under United States v. Marsh, 944 F.3d 524 (4th Cir. 2019). The government must raise untimeliness, but once it does, the court must enforce the deadline strictly and cannot excuse the delay on equitable grounds.

What happens if I miss the 14-day deadline?

The government will usually move to dismiss, and the court of appeals will grant it. Your options narrow to asking the district court for a Rule 4(b)(4) extension within the 30-day window, showing excusable neglect or good cause, or pursuing collateral relief such as a motion under 28 U.S.C. 2255 if counsel’s failure to file caused the miss. A missed court deadline in a criminal case is far harder to fix than in a civil one, because the extension window is shorter and equitable tolling is unavailable.

This article is general information only, not legal advice. Federal criminal appeal deadlines are short and strictly enforced. If a judgment has been entered against you, consult a criminal defense or appellate attorney immediately and confirm every date against the docket and the current text of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.