Court Opinion

ID: 988894
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 22:59:14.377581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:36:49.188790
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

MELVIN BO NEWMAN,
Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

ROBERT H. MAUNEY, Warden;
                                                                    No. 95-7579
T. TRAVIS MEDLOCK, Attorney
General of the State of South
Carolina,
Respondents-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of South Carolina, at Rock Hill.
Matthew J. Perry, Jr., Senior District Judge.
(CA-94-2230-0-OBD)

Submitted: February 27, 1996

Decided: April 3, 1996

Before WILKINS and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges, and PHILLIPS,
Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Melvin Bo Newman, Appellant Pro Se. Donald John Zelenka, Chief
Deputy Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellees.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Appellant seeks to appeal the district court's order denying relief
on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1988) petition. Appellant raised five claims
in his petition: (1) his guilty plea was neither knowing nor voluntary
because he was under the influence of narcotics; (2) his attorney was
ineffective because (a) his attorney knew Appellant was under the
influence of drugs and therefore unable to understand either the
charges or his plea; (b) his attorney failed to investigate a possible
Fourth Amendment violation; (3) the sentencing judge did not inform
him that he could be required to make restitution; (4) the sentencing
judge never stated that he accepted Appellant's guilty plea; and (5)
the search of a locked bag in Appellant's car violation his Fourth
Amendment rights.

After reviewing of the district court's opinion accepting the recom-
mendation of the magistrate judge and finding no reversible error, we
deny a certificate of probable cause to appeal and dismiss the appeal
on the reasoning of the district court as to claims (1), (2)(a), (4), and
(5). Newman v. Mauney, No. CA-94-2230-0-OBD (D.S.C. Sept. 12,
1995).

Addressing Appellant's remaining claims, we find that he has not
established ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to investigate
the possible Fourth Amendment violation. At Appellant's post-
conviction relief hearing before the state court, the state court found
that Appellant's attorney did in fact investigate this possible violation,
but determined that it would not provide a viable defense. Because
Appellant has not demonstrated one of the eight factors enumerated
in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), we presume this finding to be correct. Fur-
ther, neither Appellant nor his post-conviction relief attorney demon-
strated that a Fourth Amendment violation ever occurred. Given these
facts, we find that Appellant has not met his burden of showing that

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his attorney's performance fell below the objective standard of rea-
sonableness, causing him to make a plea he would otherwise forgo.
See Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 57-59 (1985) (providing ineffective
assistance of counsel test for guilty pleas).

Addressing Appellant's remaining claim--that the sentencing
judge failed to inform him that he might be subject to an order of
restitution--we find that Appellant did not present this issue to the
state court in his post-conviction relief application. Were he to present
it now, it would be barred by § 17-27-90 of the South Carolina Code.
Land v. State, 274 S.C. 243, 246, 262 S.E.2d 735, 737 (1980). Since
Appellant has shown no cause for lifting this bar, we dismiss this
claim. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of probable cause to appeal
and dismiss the appeal. 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.

DISMISSED

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