Freeman v. Condon

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 01-6696 RODERICK KEITH FREEMAN, Petitioner - Appellant, versus CHARLES MOLONY CONDON, Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Spartanburg. Margaret B. Seymour, District Judge. (CA-00-536-7) Submitted: August 28, 2001 Decided: September 26, 2001 Before WILKINS and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Roderick Keith Freeman, Appellant Pro Se. Jeffrey Alan Jacobs, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM: Roderick Keith Freeman seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying Freeman’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (West 1994 & Supp. 2000). We have reviewed the record and the district court’s opinion accepting the recommen- dation of the magistrate judge and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss Freeman’s appeal substantially on the reasoning of the district court.* See Freeman v. Condon, CA-00-536-7 (D.S.C. Mar. 28, 2001). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten- tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED * To the extent Freeman contends he was denied effective as- sistance of counsel at his post-conviction relief hearing, we note that defendants are not constitutionally entitled to counsel at such hearings, a necessary prerequisite to a constitutional inef- fective assistance of counsel claim. See Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 752 (1991). 2