Court Opinion

ID: 998337
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:09:25.826589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:35:50.050881
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                      No. 98-4080

COLIN MASSIAS, a/k/a Jamaican C,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte.
Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr., Senior District Judge,
sitting by designation.
(CR-94-148-V)

Submitted: March 16, 1999

Decided: March 30, 1999

Before WILLIAMS, MICHAEL, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Terry F. Rose, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. Mark T. Cal-
loway, United States Attorney, Frank D. Whitney, Assistant United
States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

PER CURIAM:

Colin Massias appeals his conviction and sentence after a convic-
tion for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distrib-
ute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1994). We affirm.

The Government's evidence showed that Massias was involved in
a conspiracy that bought powder cocaine and cooked it into crack
cocaine for distribution. Massias often supervised the cooking of the
cocaine into crack and also served as security for the conspiracy. The
court originally sentenced Massias to 160 months' imprisonment
based only on distribution of powder cocaine. Upon the Govern-
ment's appeal, this Court vacated Massias' sentence, and remanded
for resentencing with instructions for the sentencing court to consider
the substantial evidence that Massias trafficked in crack. See United
States v. Massias, No. 96-4577 (4th Cir. May 30, 1997) (unpub-
lished). After considering this evidence, the court resentenced Mas-
sias to 324 months' imprisonment. Massias timely appealed.

Massias contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel
in numerous ways. Because the record does not conclusively show
ineffective assistance of counsel, we decline to consider this issue on
direct appeal. See United States v. Smith, 62 F.3d 641, 650-51 (4th
Cir. 1995). Further, the evidence was more than sufficient to support
the district court's finding that a conspiracy existed, of which Massias
was a part, and that the co-conspirators' statements admitted at trial
were made in the course of and in furtherance of the conspiracy;
therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting
these statements. See Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E); United States v.
Neal, 78 F.3d 901, 904-05 (4th Cir. 1996).

We therefore affirm Massias' conviction and sentence. We dis-
pense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately set forth in the materials before the court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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