Court Opinion

ID: 994934
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 00:30:18.11566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:19.358239
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.
                                                                      No. 97-4656
ROGER LEE MCKENZIE, a/k/a Roger
Lee Picklesimer,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Huntington.
Joseph Robert Goodwin, District Judge.
(CR-96-166)

Submitted: April 29, 1998

Decided: May 15, 1998

Before MURNAGHAN, NIEMEYER, and WILLIAMS,
Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed in part and dismissed in part by unpublished per curiam
opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

George A. Mills, III, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellant.
Rebecca A. Betts, United States Attorney, Ray M. Shepard, Assistant
United States Attorney, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Roger Lee McKenzie pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute cocaine, marijuana, and lysergic acid diethylamide
(LSD) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1994). He appeals the
286-month career offender sentence he received, see USSG § 4B1.1,*
contending that his guilty plea was involuntary, that the district court
should have departed downward under USSG § 4A1.3, p.s., because
his prior state drug convictions involved small amounts of marijuana,
and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel during his guilty
plea and sentencing. We affirm in part and dismiss in part.

McKenzie alleges that his guilty plea was not knowing and volun-
tary because his attorney misled him about the length of the sentence
he would receive. However, McKenzie was informed by the district
court at the guilty plea hearing that his plea exposed him to a possible
life sentence. The district court was not required to determine and
inform him what the applicable guideline range would be before
accepting his guilty plea. See United States v. DeFusco, 949 F.2d 114,
119 (4th Cir. 1991). Therefore, the plea was knowing and voluntary.
We lack jurisdiction to review the district court's decision not to
depart under USSG § 4A1.3. See United States v. Bayerle, 898 F.2d
28, 31 (4th Cir. 1990). Finally, a claim of ineffective assistance of
counsel is not properly raised on direct appeal unless the record con-
clusively discloses that defense counsel's performance was constitu-
tionally deficient. See United States v. Smith , 62 F.3d 641, 651 (4th
Cir. 1995). As this is not such as case, McKenzie should raise any
claim of ineffective assistance in a motion to vacate pursuant to 28
U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West 1994 & Supp. 1998).

Accordingly, we affirm the sentence imposed. We dismiss that por-
_________________________________________________________________
*U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (1995).

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tion of the appeal which challenges the district court's failure to
depart. 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 IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART

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