United States v. Hope

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: January 25, 2011
• Docket: 10-4620
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 10-4620

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

WILLIAM CURTIS HOPE,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Charlottesville. Norman K. Moon, Senior District Judge. (3:09-cr-00039-nkm-1)

Submitted: November 12, 2010 Decided: January 25, 2011

Before NIEMEYER and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Larry W. Shelton, Federal Public Defender, Frederick T. Heblich, Jr., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Timothy J. Heaphy, United States Attorney, Nancy S. Healey, Assistant United States Attorney, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:

William Curtis Hope pled guilty to felony eluding, in

violation of Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-817(B) (2010), as assimilated

by the Assimilative Crimes Act (“ACA”), 18 U.S.C. § 13 (2006).

He appeals, claiming that the assimilated state statute was a

traffic law already adopted by 36 C.F.R. § 4.2 (2010). Finding

no error, we affirm.

This court reviews de novo whether the ACA assimilates

a state offense. See United States v. Dotson, 615 F.3d 1162,

1165 (9th Cir. 2010). We conclude there was no error and the

Virginia statute was properly assimilated under the ACA.

Accordingly, we affirm the court’s judgment. See, e.g., United

States v. Fox, 60 F.3d 181, 185 (4th Cir. 1995). We dispense

with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are

adequately presented in the materials before the court and

argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED