United States v. Routh

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 02-4118 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus JOSEPH ADAM ROUTH, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Abingdon. James P. Jones, District Judge. (CR-01-59) Submitted: August 20, 2002 Decided: September 20, 2002 Before WIDENER, NIEMEYER, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. R. Wayne Austin, John B. Coleman, SCYPHERS & AUSTIN, P.C., Abingdon, Virginia, for Appellant. John L. Brownlee, United States Attorney, Eric M. Hurt, Assistant United States Attorney, Abingdon, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM: Joseph Adam Routh, appeals his jury conviction and 188-month sentence for being a convicted felon and unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm in violation 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), (g)(3), 924(e) (2000). Routh contends the district court abused its discretion in ruling it would admit the results of all of Routh’s drug urinalysis tests or none at all. Six of the tests were negative for drug use, and one was positive. Routh sought to introduce evidence concerning only the negative results, but eventually opted not to admit any test results based upon the ditrict court’s ruling. We affirm. A district court’s rulings on the admission and exclusion of evidence will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. United States v. Bostian, 59 F.3d 474, 480 (4th Cir. 1995). This court will find an abuse of discretion only if the district court’s evidentiary ruling was arbitrary or irrational. United States v. Achiekwelu, 112 F.3d 747, 753 (4th Cir. 1997). We find no abuse of discretion in the district court’s ruling. Accordingly, we affirm Routh’s conviction and sentence. 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 2