United States v. Claude Sloan

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: February 24, 2023
• Docket: 22-7326
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 22-7326 Doc: 8 Filed: 02/24/2023 Pg: 1 of 2

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-7326

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

CLAUDE SLOAN,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Big Stone Gap. James P. Jones, Senior District Judge. (2:18-cr-00004-JPJ-1)

Submitted: February 21, 2023 Decided: February 24, 2023

Before NIEMEYER and DIAZ, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Claude Sloan, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 22-7326 Doc: 8 Filed: 02/24/2023 Pg: 2 of 2

PER CURIAM:

Claude Sloan appeals the district court’s order denying his tenth motion for

compassionate release. On appeal, we confine our review to the issues raised in the

informal brief. See 4th Cir. R. 34(b). Because Sloan’s informal brief does not challenge

the district court’s disposition of this motion, he has forfeited appellate review of the

court’s order. * See Jackson v. Lightsey, 775 F.3d 170, 177 (4th Cir. 2014) (“The informal

brief is an important document; under Fourth Circuit rules, our review is limited to issues

preserved in that brief.”). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. United States

v. Sloan, No. 2:18-cr-00004-JPJ-1 (W.D. Va. Nov. 8, 2022). We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

* To the extent Sloan seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying his petition for actual innocence, that order is not properly before us. Sloan noted this appeal before the district court entered its order denying that petition, and he did not subsequently note an appeal of that order. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A).