United States of America v. Demetrius Antonio McKoy

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 14-6642
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
DEMETRIUS ANTONIO MCKOY,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (5:09-cr-00051-BO-1; 5:13-cv-00551-BO)
Submitted: September 30, 2014 Decided: October 8, 2014
Before GREGORY and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed in part; dismissed in part by unpublished per curiam
opinion.
Demetrius Antonio McKoy, Appellant Pro Se. Michael Gordon
James, Banumathi Rangarajan, Shailika K. Shah, Thomas Gray
Walker, Seth Morgan Wood, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY,
Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Demetrius McKoy appeals the district court’s order
denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2012) motion. We
granted a certificate of appealability on the issue of whether
McKoy’s trial counsel, Curtis High, rendered ineffective
assistance at the plea bargaining stage of proceedings by
advising McKoy to go to trial because the Government could not
convict him of a drug trafficking offense. After reviewing the
record and the parties’ informal briefs, we conclude that McKoy
failed to demonstrate prejudice from High’s alleged deficient
performance. See Lafler v. Cooper, 132 S. Ct. 1376, 1387
(2012). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s denial of
relief on the claim for which we granted a certificate of
appealability. With regard to McKoy’s remaining claims, we deny
a certificate of appealability and dismiss that portion of the
appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials
before this court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.
AFFIRMED IN PART;
DISMISSED IN PART

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