Court Opinion

ID: 9865984
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 00:00:32.219919+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:08:39.106706
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-40353        Document: 00516906925             Page: 1      Date Filed: 09/25/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit                                         United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________                                      FILED
                                                                               September 25, 2023
                                      No. 23-40353
                                    Summary Calendar                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                          Clerk
                                    ____________

   United States of America,

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Frank Edwin Pate,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Eastern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 4:14-CR-125-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Clement, Engelhardt, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
         Frank Edwin Pate, federal prisoner # 30430-408, was convicted by a
   jury of two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. In an amended
   judgment issued in May 2016, the district court sentenced Pate to a total of
   168 months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and
   $2,829,586.84 restitution. This court granted the Government’s motion to

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-40353      Document: 00516906925          Page: 2    Date Filed: 09/25/2023

                                    No. 23-40353

   dismiss Pate’s direct appeal from that judgment. United States v. Pate, No.
   16-40814 c/w No. 16-41317 (5th Cir. July 5, 2017) (unpublished). Over three
   years after the entry of the amended judgment, Pate filed a second notice of
   appeal challenging that same judgment. This court dismissed his appeal as
   frivolous. United States v. Pate, No. 19-40928 (5th Cir. Apr. 2, 2020)
   (unpublished).
          Pate has now filed a third notice of appeal from his amended judgment
   of conviction and sentence. He has also filed a motion to proceed pro se on
   appeal.
          We may dismiss an appeal during consideration of an interlocutory
   motion if the appeal “is frivolous and entirely without merit.” 5th Cir.
   R. 42.2. As noted, Pate has already filed a direct appeal from his amended
   judgment of conviction and sentence. A defendant “is not entitled to two
   appeals,” and a second appeal from the same conviction is “not properly
   before this Court.” United States v. Arlt, 567 F.2d 1295, 1297 (5th Cir. 1978);
   accord United States v. Rodriguez, 821 F.3d 632, 633-34 (5th Cir. 2016).
   Because Pate’s appeal is not properly before this court, it is DISMISSED
   as frivolous. See 5th Cir. R. 42.2; Arlt, 567 F.2d at 1297-98; see also
   Rodriguez, 821 F.3d at 633-34. His motion to proceed pro se on appeal is
   DENIED.
          Pate is WARNED that the filing of another notice of appeal of the
   2016 judgment or the filing of any other frivolous, repetitive, or otherwise
   abusive pleadings will invite the imposition of sanctions, which may include
   dismissal, monetary sanctions, and restrictions on his ability to file pleadings
   in this court and any court subject to this court’s jurisdiction. See Coghlan v.
   Starkey, 852 F.2d 806, 817 n.21 (5th Cir. 1988).

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