United States v. Jeter

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, v.  No. 00-6964 MILFRED C. JETER, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Spartanburg. Henry M. Herlong, Jr., District Judge. (CA-00-1157-7, CR-98-1172-7) Submitted: December 14, 2000 Decided: December 22, 2000 Before WIDENER, WILKINS, and TRAXLER, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL Milfred C. Jeter, Appellant Pro Se. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 UNITED STATES v. JETER OPINION PER CURIAM: Milfred C. Jeter appeals the district court’s order denying his motion filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2000). We have reviewed the record and the district court’s opinion and find no reversible error. We therefore affirm the district court’s order. Jeter raises two issues on appeal. First, Jeter claims that trial coun- sel was ineffective for failing to apply the correct law with regard to the district court’s classification of him as a career offender pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 4B1.1 (1998). Specifically, Jeter claims that the Government was required to file an information pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851(a) (1994) in order to impose a career offender enhancement. Because Jeter did not raise this issue before the district court, he is barred from raising it on appeal. See Muth v. United States, 1 F.3d 246, 250 (4th Cir. 1993). Second, Jeter alleges that the Supreme Court’s decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. ___, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), ren- ders his sentence impermissible. We need not address whether Apprendi applies retroactively on collateral review because Jeter was sentenced pursuant to 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(b)(1)(C) (West 1999), which sets the statutory maximum at twenty years for the smallest amounts of cocaine. As a result, Jeter’s sentence was not increased beyond the statutory maximum based on any finding of drug quantity. See Apprendi, 120 S. Ct. at 2362-63. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argu- ment because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the deci- sional process. DISMISSED