Opinion ID: 730980
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Hunter Case

Text: 5 In 1990, following a guilty plea, Charles Edward Hunter was convicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama of one count of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and of one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). He was fined $10,000.00, and sentenced to eighty-four months imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release. 6 In 1991 Hunter filed an initial 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion for relief from his sentence. The motion was denied, and this Court affirmed that denial. Hunter filed another § 2255 motion in 1991, which was also denied. In 1995, Hunter filed yet another motion for § 2255 relief, which the district court dismissed as utterly frivolous. 7 This appeal results from Hunter's latest § 2255 motion, which he filed on March 15, 1996, and the district court denied on April 24, 1996. On May 17, 1996, Hunter filed a notice of appeal and motion to proceed in forma pauperis. On May 30, 1996, the district court granted that motion, and it treated the notice of appeal as including an application for a certificate of appealability. 8 The district court expressed doubt about whether it was authorized to grant a certificate of appealability, stating: There are substantial internal inconsistencies between the amended § 2253 and the amended Rule 22, which make it unclear whether this court is intended or indeed has the authority to issue a certificate of appealability from the denial of a section 2255 motion. Nonetheless, [o]ut of an abundance of caution, the district court certified that Hunter had made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right regarding one issue, which it specified in the order. 1