UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 98-7279

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus

STANLEY HICKMAN, Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern Dis- trict of North Carolina, at Raleigh. Terrence W. Boyle, Chief Dis- trict Judge. (CR-93-144-5-3-BO)

Submitted: October 6, 1998 Decided: October 23, 1998

Before NIEMEYER, HAMILTON, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Stanley Hickman, Appellant Pro Se. David Paul Folmar, Jr., Assis- tant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

PER CURIAM: Appellant seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying his motion filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West 1994 & Supp. 1998).

We have reviewed the record and the district court’s opinion and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of ap- pealability and dismiss the appeal on the reasoning of the district court. United States v. Hickman, No. CR-93-144-5-3-BO (E.D.N.C. July 10, 1998). We note that even if we assume, as Appellant argues, that his conviction became final on October 7, 1997, the date on which the Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari, his § 2255 motion nevertheless was untimely filed. 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