US v. Raymond Chestnut

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Motion disposition in opinion--denying Motion for transcript at government expense [999651281-2] in 15-7289, 15-7290. Originating case number: 4:05-cr-01044-RBH-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999816322].. [15-7289, 15-7290, 15-7376]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-7289

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
RAYMOND EDWARD CHESTNUT, a/k/a Snoop, a/k/a Ray,
Defendant – Appellant.

No. 15-7290

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
RAYMOND EDWARD CHESTNUT, a/k/a Snoop, a/k/a Ray,
Defendant – Appellant.

No. 15-7376

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.

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RAYMOND EDWARD CHESTNUT, a/k/a Snoop, a/k/a Ray,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District
of South Carolina, at Florence.
R. Bryan Harwell, District
Judge. (4:05-cr-01044-RBH-1)

Submitted:

November 24, 2015

Decided:

May 9, 2016

Before SHEDD, WYNN, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

No. 15-7289, dismissed; No. 15-7290, vacated and remanded; No.
15-7376, affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Raymond Edward Chestnut, Appellant Pro Se. Robert Frank Daley,
Jr., Assistant United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina,
Arthur
Bradley
Parham,
Assistant
United
States
Attorney,
Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
In

these

consolidated

appeals,

Raymond

Edward

Chestnut

challenges several orders entered in his criminal case.

Turning

first to Appeal No. 15-7289, Chestnut seeks to appeal the July
26, 2010, amended criminal judgment.

In criminal cases, the

defendant must file the notice of appeal within 14 days after
the entry of judgment.

With or without a motion, upon a showing

of excusable neglect or good cause, the district court may grant
an extension of up to 30 days to file a notice of appeal.

Fed.

R. App. P. 4(b)(4); United States v. Reyes, 759 F.2d 351, 353
(4th Cir. 1985).
The

district

court

entered

judgment

on

July

26,

2010.

Chestnut filed his notice of appeal five years after entry of
the criminal judgment. *

Because Chestnut’s notice of appeal is

inordinately late, we dismiss Appeal No. 15-7289.

*

Chestnut’s notice of appeal is dated August 4, 2010, and,
in his informal brief, Chestnut alleges that he filed the notice
of appeal on August 4, 2010.
However, the certificate of
service attached to the notice of appeal is dated August 4,
2015, the envelope was date stamped by the prison on August 10,
2015, and postmarked August 11, 2015. The notice of appeal was
date stamped “received” by the district court on August 14,
2015.
Chestnut’s representation that he filed his notice of
appeal on August 4, 2010, simply is not credible.

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On July 21, 2015, the district court entered a text order
denying several postjudgment motions.

In Appeal No. 15-7290,

Chestnut appeals from the portion of this text order denying his
Motion to Vacate Sentence and Remand for Re-Sentencing (“Motion
to Vacate”), which was dated June 9, 2015, and entered on the
district court’s docket on June 15, 2015, and from the court’s
August

3,

2015,

text

order

denying

Chestnut’s

motion

for

reconsideration of the denial of his Motion to Vacate.
district

court

denied

the

Motion

to

Vacate

on

the

The

merits.

However, because the motion was an unauthorized successive 28
U.S.C. § 2255 (2012) motion, the district lacked jurisdiction to
consider

it.

28

U.S.C.

§§

2244(a),

2255(h)

(2012).

Accordingly, we vacate both the portion of the July 21, 2015,
text

order

denying

denying

the

directions

the

motion

for

the

Motion

for

to

Vacate

and

reconsideration,

district

court

to

the

dismiss

order

remand

and

text

with

the

Motion

to

Vacate without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.
Finally,
portion

of

in

the

Appeal
district

No.

15-7376,

court’s

July

Chestnut
21,

2015,

appeals
text

the
order

denying his Motion to Set Aside Judgement and Enter a New One.
We

have

reviewed

the

record

and

find

no

reversible

error.

Accordingly, in Appeal No. 15-7376, we affirm on the reasoning
of the district court.

United States v. Chestnut, No. 4:05-cr-

01044-RBH-1 (D.S.C. July 21, 2015).
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Chestnut’s motion for a transcript at Government expense is
denied.
legal
before

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and

contentions
this

court

are

adequately

and

argument

presented

would

not

in
aid

the
the

materials
decisional

process.
NO. 15-7289, DISMISSED;
NO. 15-7290, VACATED AND REMANDED;
NO. 15-7376, AFFIRMED

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