Case: 18-13140 Date Filed: 03/12/2019 Page: 1 of 3
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 18-13140
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 2:09-cr-00081-WKW-SRW-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
DANIEL LAMAR HATCHER,
a.k.a. Doo Doo,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
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(March 12, 2019)
Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, WILLIAM PRYOR, and GRANT, Circuit
Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Case: 18-13140 Date Filed: 03/12/2019 Page: 2 of 3
Daniel Hatcher is a federal inmate serving a 300-month sentence for
conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and for distributing crack cocaine. See
United States v. Hatcher, 541 F. App’x 951 (11th Cir. 2013) (unpublished)
(affirming Hatcher’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal); Hatcher v. United
States, No. 2:17-CV-737-WKW, 2018 WL 2014073, at *1 (M.D. Ala. Apr. 30,
2018) (denying Hatcher’s second or successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion). Hatcher
appeals the district court’s denial of the motion that he filed under Rule 59(e) of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to alter or amend the judgment. 1 We construe
Hatcher’s filings liberally because he is proceeding pro se, Winthrop-Redin v.
United States, 767 F.3d 1210, 1215 (11th Cir. 2014), and review only for an abuse
of discretion the district court’s denial of Hatcher’s Rule 59(e) motion, Shuford v.
Fid. Nat. Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 508 F.3d 1337, 1341 (11th Cir. 2007).
Hatcher contends that the district court should have invoked Rule 59(e) to
reconsider his conviction and sentence. But federal courts cannot invoke the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 59(e), to provide relief from a
judgment in a criminal case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 (“These rules govern the
procedures in all civil actions and proceedings in the United States district courts.”)
1
Rule 59(e) provides, in full, that “[a] motion to alter or amend a judgment must be filed
no later than 28 days after the entry of the judgment.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e). “[F]ederal courts
generally . . . invoke[ ] Rule 59(e) . . . to support reconsideration of matters properly
encompassed in a decision on the merits.” Buchanan v. Stanships, Inc., 485 U.S. 265, 267, 108 S.
Ct. 1130, 1131 (1988).
2
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(Emphasis added.); United States v. Fair, 326 F.3d 1317, 1318 (11th Cir. 2003)
(“[T]he Federal Rules of Civil Procedure unambiguously limit[ ] their application
to civil cases.”) (quotation marks omitted). As a result, the district court did not
abuse its discretion by denying his motion.
AFFIRMED.
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