United States v. Blackwell

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: January 27, 1998
• Docket: 97-6585
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 97-6585

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

versus

TIMOTHY JAY BLACKWELL,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Rock Hill. Charles E. Simons, Jr., Senior District Judge. (CR-90-319, CA-96-2854-0-6)

Submitted: January 15, 1998 Decided: January 27, 1998

Before MURNAGHAN and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

William Otis Kneece, KNEECE, KNEECE & BROWN, Columbia, South Caro- lina; Steven Jay Wisotsky, Miami, Florida; Robert Arnold Hassell, Hillsborough, North Carolina, for Appellant. Mark C. Moore, As- sistant United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM:

Timothy Blackwell seeks to appeal the district court's order

denying his motion filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West 1994 &

Supp. 1997). We have reviewed the record and the district court's

opinion and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we deny a cer-

tificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal substantially on the reasoning of the district court. United States v. Blackwell , Nos. CR-90-319; CA-96-2854-0-6 (D.S.C. Mar. 4, 1997). Because

Blackwell's claims of ineffective trial and appellate counsel are

without merit, we find it unnecessary to address whether Black- well's motion was timely under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective

Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat.

1214. Finally, we deny Blackwell's motion for oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the ma-

terials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional

process.

DISMISSED