Court Opinion

ID: 995630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 00:40:07.493126+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:23:26.486211
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                   No. 97-6111

RONALD NELSON, a/k/a Ronnie,
Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                   No. 97-6201

RONALD NELSON, a/k/a Ronnie,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of North Carolina at Fayetteville.
Malcolm J. Howard, District Judge.
(CR-94-57-H)

Submitted: July 2, 1998

Decided: July 21, 1998

Before NIEMEYER and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and
HALL, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished per
curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________
COUNSEL

Ronald Nelson, Appellant Pro Se. Jane J. Jackson, Assistant United
States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Ronald Nelson was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute cocaine and cocaine base and substantive offenses of dis-
tribution of cocaine base, and for aiding and abetting in the distribu-
tion thereof. The court sentenced Nelson to 240 months'
incarceration, five years supervised release, and fines and assessments
of $12,300. Nelson appealed his convictions and sentences, and this
Court affirmed. Nelson then filed numerous motions in the district
court. Nelson now appeals the district court's denial of his motion to
dismiss his indictment for lack of jurisdiction and his motion to
vacate the court's restitution order for lack of jurisdiction.

First, Nelson claims that the district court erred in denying his
motion to dismiss his indictment for lack of jurisdiction. Specifically,
Nelson avers that jurisdiction was lacking because the Government
failed to obtain a grand jury concurrence form with the signatures of
at least twelve members voting to indict and that therefore his due
process rights were violated. We find that the district court properly
found that Nelson's motion to dismiss was without merit. Nelson
waived his right to challenge any non-jurisdictional defects in the
indictment process by failing to raise objections prior to trial, as
required by Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b)(2), and did not show cause and
prejudice for his waiver. See Davis v. United States, 411 U.S. 233,
242 (1973). Further, Nelson fails to allege grounds to justify the dis-
closure of the voting record. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 6. This failure robs

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his claim of any merit even if it was not waived. Accordingly, we
affirm the district court's denial of Nelson's motion to dismiss for
lack of jurisdiction.

Next, Nelson avers that the district court erred in denying his
motion to vacate the court's order of restitution.* Specifically, Nelson
claims that the district court's fine order improperly delegated the
responsibility for devising a payment schedule. The district court
ordered Nelson to pay the $12,300 financial penalty in installments
as established by the probation officer, but not later than five years
after release from imprisonment. We find that the district court's
order delegating its authority to establish the installment amount and
timing of his fine to the United States probation officer without
retaining ultimate authority was error that requires us to vacate the
portion of his sentence relating to the fine and remand for sentencing.
See United States v. Miller, 77 F.3d 71, 77-78 (4th Cir. 1996) (apply-
ing the rationale of United States v. Johnson , 48 F.3d 806, 808-09
(4th Cir. 1995) to fines); see also 18 U.S.C.A. § 3572(d) (West 1994
& Supp. 1998).

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.

AFFIRMED IN PART; VACATED IN PART AND REMANDED
_________________________________________________________________
*This court construes the district court's order denying relief on Nel-
son's motion to vacate restitution as a motion to vacate fines because the
record indicates that the district court ordered fines, not restitution.

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