Rules Violations Bounce Criminal Defendant's Appeal

In a case decided today, the COA, over a dissent, dismissed an appeal based on rules violations. The criminal defendant failed to include in the record on appeal a full copy of the order from which he appealed, and his notice of appeal failed to designate that order. Judge Elmore dissented, stating that he agreed with Judge Geer's recent dissent in Stann v. Levine that an appeal shouldn't be dismissed unless the violations substantively affect the appellee's ability to respond to the appeal and the Court's ability to address the appeal. (See Sarah's earlier posts below on Stann.) According to Judge Elmore, suspension of the rules under Rule 2 was warranted because, he said, there was a clear Fourth Amendment violation under a recent case decided last March by the U.S. Supreme Court.