Key legal question
Whether the criminal appeal declaration was filed within the statutory time limit.
Extracted holding
The declaration was filed too late because the appellant was deemed present at the judgment reading, so the five-day deadline expired on 2009-05-25 at the latest.
Extracted reasoning
Under Art. 424(1) CPP, a condemned person must file an uncounseled declaration within five days of oral notification. Because the date and time of the judgment reading were orally communicated and the appellant failed to appear, Art. 399(1) CPP deemed him present; the deadline therefore ran from the judgment date and was extended by operation of Arts. 132 and 133 CPP only until 2009-05-25. The filing on 2009-06-29 was manifestly late.